HARRY: I’LL COME BACK STRONGER
Team spirit
HARRY KANE has vowed to come back “stronger than ever” from the ankle injury that may end his season.
And the Tottenham striker has urged his team-mates to finish the job against Manchester City and claim a place in the Champions League semi-final. The England captain was helped off with an ankle ligament injury (right) as his team beat City 1-0 in the quarter-final first leg on Tuesday. Kane, waiting for an MRI scan, tweeted: “Gutted to go off injured but every setback is a chance
ANOTHER win, another triumph for Tottenham’s spirit and belief over financial muscle.
In contrast to the £80million splurged by Manchester City last summer – including £60m on Riyad Mahrez – Spurs spent nothing. Yet when the chips were down on Tuesday night – with Harry Kane injured – Mauricio Pochettino’s side proved yet again that they will not be bullied.
City will have the chance to make amends for the 1-0 defeat next week in the second leg of their Champions League quarterfinal at the Etihad.
Pep Guardiola’s side have won all 12 of their home games since their shock defeat by Crystal Palace in December.
But defender Jan Vertonghen (in action on Tuesday, below) vows Spurs will be ready for whatever moneybags City throw at them. “City spend lot of money but they spend it in a responsible way,” he said. “They attract good players and they cost a lot of money.
“But I think we have got a very very good team with an unbelievable mentality. We all want to fight for each other. I hope it will stay like this in years to come.” Tuesday night’s victory left Spurs fans with mixed feelings. Son Heung-min’s decisive late strike came after Kane had been helped down the tunnel with the same ankle injury that kept him out for seven games in January.
During that period, however, the north Londoners managed to win five matches, with Son scoring in four of them.
Now Vertonghen has called on the South Korean to step up again.
“Everyone is counting on Sonny,” he said. “Everyone needs to step up like we did before.
“I think we won all of our Premier League games without Harry last time and hopefully we can do it again.”
Midfielder Moussa Sissoko revealed manager Pochettino had used Liverpool and Brighton as inspirations for Tuesday’s victory, showing his squad DVDS of their performances against City.
Brighton ran City close in their FA Cup semi-final defeat last weekend while Liverpool crushed them over two legs in the Champions League quarter-final last season.
Sissoko said: “The gaffer showed us some videos of different teams against them.
“Liverpool, Brighton in the FA Cup final on Sunday. We know how they can struggle sometimes. They conceded some chances and that is what we were looking at. It worked for us.”