Son thrives on competition as he stakes Juve claim
When the team-sheet landed and Son Heung-min’s name was listed in Tottenham Hotspur’s line-up for the visit of relegation-threatened Huddersfield Town, there was general agreement that it did not look good for the South Korean’s prospects of starting against Juventus.
Erik Lamela was a surprise inclusion ahead of Son for the 2-2 draw in Turin, and that the Argentine started on the substitutes’ bench on Saturday appeared to indicate he was being readied for the second leg of Tottenham’s Champions League round-of-16 clash. It may still be that Mauricio Pochettino starts Lamela ahead of Son on Wednesday night, but the 25-yearold has certainly given him something to think about.
Son scored his 14th and 15th goals of the season to ease Tottenham past Huddersfield Town and prove he will be ready if called upon.
If Pochettino picked his team based on the attitude of his players, Son would be impossible to drop. But Son accepts that, whether or not he has just netted twice, there are never any guarantees under his manager. “But this is competition, it’s all about competition,” said Son. “I need to take this because competition makes players better.
“The gaffer has to choose 11 players. Sometimes it’s difficult to choose because he feels sorry for those who aren’t playing. But I have to accept it if the gaffer doesn’t choose me, I just have to be ready if I come on or if I’m on the bench.
is a team sport, I have to accept it and be ready to help my team-mates.”
Asked if he knew his team for the Juventus game, Pochettino suggested that he still had a couple of decisions to finalise.
“Of course, I have some idea,” said Pochettino. “But then we need to confirm, we need to assess the players. Always, at the moment one Juventus warmed up for their Champions League second leg tie at Wembley with a 1-0 win at Lazio – and coach Massimiliano Allegri said afterwards he does not expect Spurs to be as resolute as their Serie A rivals. “Tottenham are different compared to Lazio, they don’t defend as well,” he said after Paulo Dybala’s late winner. game finishes, you start to think straightaway about the next game.”
As well as starting on the bench in the first leg against Juventus, Son did not start in either Champions League games against Real Madrid. But the former Bayer Leverkusen forward is not ranking his appearances by the size of the opponent.
“Every single game is big for me, I take every game as being big,” said Son. “Of course, everyone who doesn’t start is a bit sad or disappointed, but we are a team, so we have to support the starting XI.”
Pochettino denied Son the chance to complete his hat-trick against Huddersfield by replacing him with Lamela for the final 20 minutes but, again, the forward had no complaints. Asked if he had wanted to stay on, Son replied: “Of course, but not because of the hat-trick, but because I want to play every game until the finish. I need to accept it and it’s important we got three points.”
The two away goals that Tottenham scored, in overturning a twogoal deficit in Turin, gives them a slight advantage ahead of the Wembley return, but Son insisted Spurs will not simply be trying to stop their opponents scoring.
“We scored two very important goals there, but we are playing to win because football is about winning,” said Son. “We are looking forward to playing against a good team. I hope it’s a great atmosphere and I think we have a great opportunity.”
Pochettino has made it clear the Premier League and Champions League are his priorities, which makes the chance to progress to the quarter-finals one of the biggest moments in his managerial career.
“Maybe yes, maybe no, I don’t know,” said Pochettino. “I think, for me, we are going to enjoy the game. We deserve to be there. Enjoy it, don’t put drama on this game and perform in the best way.”