Dejan: “After this feeling, you want more”
Mon 21 February 2022, 18:45|
Tottenham Hotspur
It was sheer, unbridled joy for Dejan Kulusevski after his game of firsts at the Etihad - first start, first goal and a first assist that secured our dramatic 3-2 win against Manchester City on Saturday evening.
Dejan took just four minutes to make his mark in this Premier League thriller. Harry Kane released Heung-Min Son and Dejan, sprinting forward in support of the attack, was there to convert when Sonny squared to him. Ilkay Gundogan equalised, Harry nudged us ahead again on 59 minutes and it looked like Dejan had provided the assist for 3-1 on 75 only for him to be ruled offside by VAR after Harry's finish.
City took advantage of another VAR call, handball against Cristian Romero, to level in the first minute of added time but Dejan still had time to make another, decisive impact, this time teasing over a cross for Harry to head home the winner in the 95th minute. What a night!
“It was fantastic,” said Dejan. “It shows that hard work pays off and after this feeling you want more. You want to be back out there tomorrow, you want to work even harder, because it’s a wonderful feeling.
“I’m so proud of everyone. Almost every time we created a chance, we scored. We also had one disallowed for offside. We have to continue doing these things. We can improve a lot, but we were very good tonight, and we have to enjoy this. It was amazing to be with the fans. They have welcomed me very nicely, I’m so happy to be here and I want to make them proud.”
You could have excused Dejan taking a nervous glance towards the assistant after that winning goal, but a quick replay told us immediately that he was onside this time - not that the Swedish international knew for sure at the time!
“To be honest, the first one, I really didn’t think it would be offside, because I’m not usually offside in those positions,” he told us. “I asked, ‘was it me?’ After, I was a little afraid of being offside. I felt more offside for the second one.”
How did it feel to see Harry’s winner hit the back of the net, and to celebrate with our travelling fans? “That’s a feeling I can’t describe,” he added. “It’s been a couple of bad months for me where I haven’t felt like myself, but that feeling was amazing. I’m so grateful for the opportunity this club has given me, and the coach letting me play, the players helping me a lot... amazing.”
