Thomas Frank on Kolo Muani: “The players know when you need that goal”
Thu 29 January 2026, 14:00|
Tottenham Hotspur
Thomas Frank expressed his delight after Randal Kolo Muani’s goal against Eintracht Frankfurt – and gave us the reasoning behind starting him instead of Dominic Solanke, a big decision that paid dividends in Germany on Wednesday evening.
We witnessed Randal at his best when we faced his parent club PSG earlier in the UEFA Champions League – two goals and an assist as we went down 5-3 against the holders in Paris in November.
Facing another former club – Randal made his name in his spell at Eintracht Frankfurt, 26 goals in 50 matches, 2022-2024 – the France international struck again, this time the crucial opener as we chased the win that would secure a place in the Round of 16 of the competition.
It was job done as Dominic came off the bench to score the second goal and our 2-0 win secured fourth in the league phase and that coveted path directly into the Round of 16, therefore missing February’s play-off round. We will face one of four teams – Club Brugge, Galatasaray, Juventus or Atletico Madrid - in March.
The players’ celebrations after Randal’s opener said a lot. “The players know,” Thomas told us afterwards. “They know how it is to be in difficult spells. They know when you're coming to a club and you're not performing to your top level, and you need to score that goal, so they're just happy on his behalf of course. That's nice.
“I'm very happy Kolo scored the goal, very happy for him. I said to him it would be nice if he also chipped in with some goals against not only his former clubs! I did that with a smile on my face, of course, because there's nothing he wants more than that. So, I'm very happy with that.
“Of course, it was a tough decision to not start with Dom, but it was absolutely the right decision. Now it's in hindsight when we won, everything’s perfect, but we just pushed him (Dom), he pushed himself to more than the limit. So, it's the right thing to have him coming and also just be able to produce again. So, happy for Kolo, happy for Dom coming on and scoring - just a good night.”
