Gazzaniga: 'Important now to be consistent'

Paulo Gazzaniga is proud to have taken another step in the right direction on a personal level this week.

So reliable whenever called upon since his summer 2017 arrival from Southampton, the impressive shot-stopper was preferred between the sticks in place of the suspended Hugo Lloris for Tuesday’s 2-1 win over PSV – an outing that represented his first ever appearance in the Champions League.

After a Man of the Match performance against Brighton in his first game of the season and his subsequent penalty shootout heroics against Watford in the Carabao Cup – a competition that he’s since helped us progress further in, with last week’s triumph at West Ham booking a quarter-final trip to Arsenal – his Spurs CV is building up nicely.

But typically of the hard-working custodian, he’s still looking to improve.

“I am happy for the Champions League debut of course, but it would have been perfect with a clean sheet. Now we have to keep pushing and keep fighting,” the goalkeeper explained.

“It’s important now to be consistent. That’s what’s asked of me. The staff always are helping and pushing me to improve. I trust in the staff and the work that we do on the training ground and that is the key, to believe in what we are doing.

“Every week, every day, Toni Jimenez (goalkeeping coach) keeps me working, not only on the training ground either, but after as well. The staff give us great tips and advice.”

Reflecting further on his first start in Europe’s elite competition, in which he made particularly impressive saves to deny PSV’s Gastón Pereiro and Donyell Malen, Paulo added: “I am happy because I’ve made my debut in the competition, we’ve got the win and because of the fight the team showed.

“I’m very happy with the performance of the team and the character of everyone. This gave us the three points. It was a very important game for us to ensure we keep competing in the Champions League.”