Toby: 'Qualification secured, now let's see what we can do!'

Toby Alderweireld was delighted with our second-half performance in Tuesday night’s 4-2 win over Olympiacos, admitting it was a much-needed reaction after a difficult beginning to the game.

After just 20 minutes of the Champions League matchday five meeting, we found ourselves 2-0 down to the Greek side after early strikes from Youssef El-Arabi and Ruben Semedo.

In our previous meeting with the Piraeus-based outfit on matchday one, it had been us who had stormed into a 2-0 lead. In that encounter at the Karaiskakis Stadium, Pedro Martins’ side ultimately pegged us back as we drew 2-2 but, on Tuesday night, we returned the favour and then some as we produced a commanding display in the second period to turn the game around.

Dele got us back into the clash as he scored on the brink of half-time to halve the deficit before two second-half goals from Harry Kane, either side of a Serge Aurier stunner, gave us all three points in N17 and sealed our place in the competition’s knockout stages.

Pleased to seal our progression with a game of the Champions League group stage to spare, centre-back Toby paid tribute to our supporters, who he felt played a key role in the dramatic turnaround.

“I think we can be very happy with our second-half display. It was a very good team performance,” our number four smiled. “The timing of Dele’s goal was very important to get the momentum in the game. I think we then only conceded one shot in the second period and scored three goals, so that was very positive. It was a tough match, of course, but it was a good reaction from the team.

“I think we have to get a little bit of our confidence back. Of course, it helps when you score goals, so I think in the second half we got that good feeling and the fans remained behind us, which was very important for us too. We can’t take it for granted that, with one game to go until the end of the group stage, we have already qualified. I think that is very positive, especially when looking back to last season – even though we ultimately reached the final, we had to battle all the way to the final game of the group to secure our place in the knockout stages. Now, let’s see what we can do in this competition."