Exclusive: Younes Kaboul on his heart-warming new project... and scoring the winner at the Emirates

We all remember Younes Kaboul's dramatic late winner at Arsenal as we came back from 2-0 down to triumph 3-2 back in November, 2010 - incredibly 10 seasons ago now.

Ahead of Sunday’s return to the Emirates for the 202^nd north London derby, we caught up with the now-retired centre-back in an interview first published in part in our official matchday programme on Thursday evening to chat about that memorable match, his recollections of Gareth Bale and to find out about the noble cause he's now involved in away from football...

The journey of Younes Kaboul

Despite encountering early frustrations during his time with us, Younes ultimately thrived in north London and was present for many of the iconic moments this Club has experienced in its recent history. Not only was he a League Cup winner with us in 2008 but he also helped us qualify for our first-ever Champions League campaign two years later.

Making almost 150 appearances over his two spells with us between 2007 and 2015, the defender was a true warrior on the pitch, yet a gentleman at heart – qualities which saw him appointed our captain in his latter years in N17.

And now, even though he has retired from the beautiful game, those traits which served him so well in his footballing days continue to guide him in his life as he now runs his own care home, battling to provide a better life for the most vulnerable.

Born and raised on the French-Swiss border in the town of Saint-Julien-en-Genevois, Younes began his career with Auxerre and starred for them as a youngster, going on to help them to the Coupe de France in 2005. Two years later, he made the move to north London.

His first season in England was a mixed one. Despite having played his part in our League Cup triumph of 2008, it was a period of adjustment for the young defender as he was still very much learning his trade. The following summer, he decided to leave for Portsmouth, but it was a move that he describes as a ‘benediction’, with the switch allowing him to focus solely on his footballing development. It was at Fratton Park where he was coached by Harry Redknapp - the duo immediately clicked and the centre-back impressed, so much so that when Harry became our manager in late 2008, Younes soon followed. Returning through our doors in January, 2010, the Frenchman felt he had unfinished business.

Having first joined the Club three years earlier with the ambition of playing in the Champions League, he came back to make that a reality. Within four months, that target was achieved and, fittingly, he was the man to deliver the cross for Peter Crouch’s iconic header against Manchester City in May, 2010 - the goal which secured our place among Europe’s elite. An incredible journey to the Champions League quarter-finals followed in our debut campaign, as well as a run to the FA Cup semi-finals in 2012, but ultimately it was a frustrating end to Younes’ time at the Club as injuries began to take their toll. After five-and-a-half seasons in total in north London, he moved on to pastures new with Sunderland before returning south the next campaign to join Watford, where he finished his career in 2018 with injuries again playing their part.

That is when the direction of his life turned away from football and down the entirely different avenue of social care. Now running his own care home for those with mental disabilities in Belgium, the former defender admits his new world is certainly a challenging one for him, yet it’s one that he is relishing as he looks to enrich the lives of others.

“Obviously I enjoyed playing at Watford. It’s a club where I felt could be a regular in the Premier League, they had some really good players and they wanted to build, but it was a challenge for me. I wasn’t really at my best because I had a lot of injuries there - that is where I decided to stop my career and now, I have been retired for about two-and-a-half years,” the 35-year-old explained. "Obviously I miss the game – I am a football man of course – but I’m also quite delighted that I am done with football because I can now experience new things, different things in my life. I am someone who is really ambitious, so I like to experience different things and I am happy today to be free, to express myself in a different world.

“The new world to me is a social one. I own a care home now for people with mental disabilities. It’s in Belgium. I am quite hands-on with it. My business partner is there now, and I go there a lot. I really enjoy doing it.

“I have always been someone for equality. I have always been a person that wants the best standards of living for everybody, so it is just to help people with disabilities, to make their everyday better. What football gave me, it is just to transmit that to them and give them a chance of a better life, really.

“The work is totally different to football. You see real life. It is a real fight. I have been fighting for 15 to 20 years in football and now it is a new challenge, a new fight, a new game and what I have learned from football, that helps as well. I really wanted to do something. There is a lot to do but I really enjoy it. I’m learning every day so I’m delighted by that.”

A bold European journey and the emergence of a superstar

Despite being a member of our last trophy-winning side in 2008, it is our maiden Champions League qualification two years later that Younes looks back on as one of his defining Spurs moments. From securing our place in Europe on that incredible night at the Etihad to making our first unforgettable steps into the competition, those moments will forever be etched into the mind of the Frenchman - especially that night at the San Siro in October, 2010, where, despite us being 4-0 and a man down, Gareth Bale put his stamp on the world game with a stunning second-half hat-trick against reigning European champions Internazionale. We may have still lost that game 4-3, but the former defender believes the team’s fightback that night not only reinvigorated our belief but also sent out a statement.

“Against City, we had a very good team, and we knew that if we got a result that night, we would qualify for the Champions League. It was a good pressure, a positive pressure,” he explained. “City had some great strikers and very good players so they could score at any moment. But we were better than them.

“Qualifying for the Champions League was even bigger than the League Cup win because we knew the next season, we would be playing against the best in Europe and also it was a statement that Tottenham is now in the top four, not fifth or sixth. So, we had to take responsibility for that, but we also couldn’t wait to do that and be regarded as a top four team in England.

“Yet, we were the outsiders of the Champions League campaign in both our group and then the knockout stages. In that first half at the San Siro against Inter, we were overwhelmed. Then in the second half, we just had to close the door at the back and try to do something in the game, maybe not to win it but to put our maximum on the pitch.

“Then Gareth did something which will be forever remembered in the history of world football. He scored exactly the same goal three times in the same half. Okay, we lost the game 4-3 but it was another statement from Tottenham that we had pride and that we were a team that never gave up – let’s call it a great defeat. And that we had a player like Gareth, after what he did.

“I remember when he came back in the dressing room after the game, we all clapped. We clapped because he did something incredible. When he came back in from the pitch with the match ball in his hands, we all just stood and clapped because we knew we were living a moment that will stay in our memories forever.”

A famous late winner at the Emirates

A month after that and Younes was making history himself as he scored a Spurs winner at Arsenal for the first time in 17 years. That day, the Gunners could have moved to the top of the Premier League table with a win, and they looked on course to do just that as they led 2-0 with not even 30 minutes gone.

But once again, like in Milan, it was a crucial 15 minutes in the dressing room at half-time that had the desired effect on the team as we came out fighting in the second half. Within five minutes, Bale had halved the deficit before Rafael van der Vaart levelled from the penalty spot on 67 minutes. Then, with just five minutes remaining, there was sheer ecstasy as Kaboul leapt highest to connect with Rafa’s 85^th-minute set-piece and earn us a memorable maiden victory at the Emirates.

“Tottenham versus Arsenal is always a special game, obviously,” the Frenchman explained. “Back in 2010, to win that game was something special. I didn’t know at the time, but I was told after the game that Tottenham hadn't won there since 1993.

“To be losing 2-0 at half-time against your rivals was tough, that was not easy. In the dressing room Harry (Redknapp) killed us. He said that it was not acceptable, and he was waiting for us to change the second half. We went back on the pitch after the break with a mindset and we made the difference. Gareth scored first, straight away after half-time and that gave us a lift - we were back in the game. I think in that game, Arsenal made a big mistake in thinking that at half-time the game was over. Then Rafa scored and I got that winner late on.

“It was a transition period because it started again to show that Tottenham were ‘there’ and that we could win away at Arsenal. To win at the Emirates is not easy but it’s not impossible at the same time. I’m sure this season, Tottenham have a big chance to win this game.”