Ange Postecoglou said the last few days had been ‘overwhelming’ after our European triumph before stating that our Premier League finale against Brighton was all about ‘thanking and acknowledging the fans’.
On the pitch, we started well as fans celebrated our UEL success at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. Dominic Solanke confidently tucked home another penalty to open the scoring on 17 minutes after Mathys Tel was brought down by Mats Wieffer. Tel was denied a second by Bart Verbruggen’s smart save to his left and, as Ange suggested later in his press conference, that could have made the difference.
However, Brighton, still chasing Europe, turned things around in the second half as two goals from Jack Hinshelwood (51, 60), Matt O’Riley’s late penalty (88) and a thunderbolt from Diego Gomez (90+3) saw them home 4-1 victors.
Speaking to us afterwards, Ange reflected: “The game didn’t go the way we wanted, but I don’t think it spoiled it too much for the fans. The key thing was more about thanking them, acknowledging them and that what we’ve achieved they remember for the right reasons.”
Ange was asked in his press conference if the players had ‘run out of steam’ after the pure emotion of the last few days. “Obviously, the players were allowed to celebrate, but irrespective of that, the emotions of the last three days meant it was always going to be a tricky one for us,” he said.
“First half we competed well, we could have had a second goal, which would've made it easier for us, even second half Brennan's got a good opportunity, but you could tell in the last 35 minutes that we ran out of legs, and that was kind of understandable for the players.”
Back to the celebrations, and we asked Ange if he ever thought he’d see the scenes he has since Bilbao, particularly the outpouring of emotions at Friday’s parade.
“It’s been overwhelming, whether that was the emotion we saw in Bilbao or the parade, it was unbelievable,” he said. “Even today, it’s probably the thing that gives me the greatest pride, being part of something that has given so much joy to so many.
“These people (supporters) have been the constant. Players, managers have come and gone, but these people have been here the whole time and that’s all they’ve wanted, to see their football club do what others were doing, and to be able to wake up the next day and say, ‘my football club has also won something’.”