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Spurs play to win
Ex-Tottenham attacker Rafael van der Vaart believes Spurs are developing a “winner’s mentality” under boss Antonio Conte after recovering from a poor first-half display to beat Marseille and top their Champions League group.
Trailing at the break and having lost Heung-Min Son to a head injury, the North Londoners managed to turn it around in the second half despite being far from their best during a tense evening at the Stade Velodrome.
Clement Lenglet’s header cancelled out Chancel Mbemba’s effort, before Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg struck with virtually the last kick of the game to seal top spot in Group D.
Reviewing the performance, Van der Vaart said: “When I think about Spurs, I think about nice, attacking football, but now I see a team who says it’s all about winning.
“They don’t see it as scoring a lot of goals. It’s about keeping the nil at one end and then trying to score one or two at the other end. You can call it a winner’s mentality.
“They don’t care if they play well or entertain their supporters.
“Making it through was the most important thing. They aren’t playing the best football at the minute, but as long as you’re winning, everybody is happy.”
Sampaoli: City deserve Champions League
Sevilla manager Jorge Sampaoli believes Manchester City deserve to win the Champions League.
A maiden success in Europe’s elite competition still alludes Pep Guardiola’s men despite dominating domestically, winning four of the last five Premier League titles.
They were beaten by Chelsea in the final of the 2020-21 campaign, before losing to Real Madrid in the semi-final last term.
Sampaoli takes new side Sevilla to the Etihad this evening in their final Champions League group game.
The former Argentina boss, 62, said: “In the project of Guardiola I think City have made great achievements.
“I think he would make a huge difference to any team in the world, but the Champions League is a very individual, special tournament.
“They have not managed to win it yet, but from the way they play, they may have deserved to have won it more than once.
“I think they are better than any team in England and some teams in the Champions League, but football is a funny game. The best teams don’t necessarily win trophies all the time.
“But I really value what City have achieved, not just in one year, but in the whole period of Guardiola managing here. He has shown consistency that no team in the world has been able to reproduce at any point.”
