Thu 18 February 2021, 20:57
Tottenham HotspurJose Mourinho suggested before the game that a positive result in our UEFA Europa League round of 32, first leg against Wolfsberger AC wouldn’t be enough, and we had ‘come to win’. The players delivered thanks to a commanding performance in the first half.
On the front foot from the first whistle against the Austrians at the Puskas Arena in Budapest, Hungary, we were soon 3-0 up thanks to fine goals from Heung-Min Son - the Puskas Award winner scoring in the Puskas Arena - Gareth Bale and Lucas Moura.
Jose said Wolfsberger boss Ferdinand Feldhofer was clever to change system at half-time and that brought a response via Michael Liendl’s penalty for 3-1 on 55 minutes. We pushed on again and Carlos Vinicius restored our three-goal advantage with a late fourth, his fourth goal in the competition so far this season.
“A positive result was not enough, a draw with goals, not the point, we had to come and win, to play with ambition, which we did,” reflected Jose. “The result at half-time, 3-0, is short, it should be more.
“They changed their system at half-time I think in a clever way to try to be more solid and try not to concede a bigger result, which they were successful in doing.
“In the second half we made the mistake that gave them life, similarities with Everton, you are in control, make a mistake, you give life and then the game can change. Here, it didn’t change, but 3-2 was not far from happening.
“Then again, good control of the game, lots of chances in lots of situations, the result could be different, and I believe the last goal put almost a period on this tie, because 4-1 away is a very good result.”
