Premier League

Eriksen claims Juventus draw proves Tottenham improvement

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Image for Eriksen claims Juventus draw proves Tottenham improvement

Christian Eriksen has claimed that the Tottenham side he joined in 2013 would have suffered a heavy defeat to Juventus if they had fallen two-goals behind.

Spurs came from two-goals behind to achieve a memorable 2-2 draw with Juventus in the Champions League on Tuesday, after a Gonzalo Higuian brace had given the Italian giants a 2-0 lead within nine minutes.

However, Harry Kane and Eriksen both scored goals to ensure Spurs ended the game with an important draw, and two away goals, that put them in good stead to qualify for the next round.

Tottenham are set to play Juventus again at Wembley in the second leg on March 7.

The Danish playmaker confessed after the game that he believes if Spurs had gone 2-0 down a few years ago to a top team, such as Juventus, then they would have gone on to lose 6-0.

“Of course we are building on every season compared to when I arrived here four or five years ago now,” said Eriksen, as quoted by talkSPORT.

“The games against the top teams when you are 2-0 down after nine minutes you lose 6-0, that’s the thing we’ve changed with the manager coming in, with the players we have here.

Eriksen continued talking and revealed what he thought had caused the positive change, and referenced the arrival of Mauricio Pochettino at the club as being a key factor.

“Everyone has grown up and they are not going to lie down if they are 2-0 down anyway,” stated the 26-year-old.

“Tottenham, compared to what it was when I came to what it is now, is completely different, that’s up to the manager, up to the players and the quality we have in the squad really.”

Eriksen signed from Ajax for £11.5million, according to the BBC, in 2013, with Pochettino becoming the manager of Spurs a year later in 2014.

OPINION

Eriksen has been at Tottenham a while now and has seen the club transform around him. Spurs supporters were disappointed earlier in the season after the club stopped looking like genuine title contenders, which shows how ambitious everyone surrounding the club had become. The latest memorable result in Turin is just further evidence of how far Spurs have come in recent seasons, and Eriksen is right to credit his manager. Many teams would have suffered a heavy defeat after falling 2-0 behind to Juventus, but Tottenham showed excellent maturity and fighting spirit to come back into the game. Spurs’ team is still young but they appear to all be hitting their stride at the same time, and it’s an exciting prospect.

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