Thu 28 October 2021, 12:30
Tottenham HotspurOn a clichéd wet and windy Wednesday night in Burnley, Lucas Moura was delighted that a touch of Brazilian magic saw us home in the Carabao Cup - a win he said 'meant a lot' after Sunday’s loss at West Ham, and an ideal boost ahead of facing Manchester United on Saturday.
We controlled the fourth round tie for the most part but both teams stood firm defensively. We gradually stepped it up in the second half, started creating chances and then the winner, created and finished in Sao Paulo, as Emerson Royal’s fine cross was powered home by Lucas, a downward header that skidded up off the surface and flew past Nick Pope. From Brazil to Burnley, the pair took us into the last eight of the competition.
Pope had earlier denied Giovani Lo Celso and turned away Lucas’ piledriver minutes after the goal. As expected, Burnley threw everything at us in the final 15 minutes, prompted by the arrivals of Chris Wood, Ashley Barnes, Maxwel Cornet and our former favourite, Aaron Lennon, off the bench. Free-kicks, corners, long throws and long clearances from Pope were all cleared away by our excellent back line as we held firm to take our place the draw on Soccer AM on Sky Sports at 10.30am on Saturday.
“I feel very good, first of all, because of the performance,” reflected Lucas on his first goal of the season, as the wind continued to blow around Turf Moor afterwards. “We played very well and deserved the win. I’m very happy to score and help the team. That’s my job.
“We controlled the game from the beginning, but it’s always difficult to play here. It’s like a war! We knew it would be like this, but we were very solid, didn’t give them any space and we could have scored more goals.
"It showed our mentality and spirit. In a game like this we need to know how to suffer, to close the gate behind and hold the result. The last 10 minutes were very tough, very difficult, but in the end everything went well.”
Asked what it meant to bounce back after losing at West Ham on Sunday, Lucas told us: “It means a lot after West Ham and before United. I thought at West Ham we played well, but we conceded from a corner and that was our mistake, that’s why the feeling was bad, but that’s football, that’s the Premier League.
“Now, the feeling is good before the game against United. We prepare from now and go with everything. It’s a big game, a game all players love to play, so let’s prepare from now and be ready for this game.”
