Ange Postecoglou has confirmed a significant injury blow, announcing that James Maddison's season has come to an abrupt end after sustaining knee ligament damage in the 3-1 first-leg triumph over Bodo/Glimt. The Tottenham and England midfielder felt severe pain which forced him off during the win, just after he had given his side a two-goal cushion.
While the creative maestro is expected to be sidelined for around three months, Postecoglou refrained from providing an exact return date: "It's disappointing for him. I'm disappointed for him more than anything else because he's been a big catalyst for us.
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"He'll miss out but that's been a constant of our season, dealing with these things, so we'll overcome that."
Amidst the unfortunate update on Maddison, there's optimism for Dominic Solanke as Postecoglou hinted at his swift return to spearhead the attack after his absence in the 1-1 stalemate with West Ham due to injury: "Dom's good, he's been able to train fully for the past couple of days, so he's no problem."
The Spurs boss also discussed Son Heung-min's condition, who didn't make the trip to Norway with the team: "It's also disappointing for Sonny. He was pushing hard.
"He has progressed, there's the possibility of him getting some game time on the weekend for us, but he hasn't trained with the team yet, but he is progressing, so we'll just wait and see how he goes."
Stepping into the void left by absentees, Dejan Kulusevski has earned Postecoglou's confidence, especially with Lucas Bergvall also out of action: "It's great that Deki's back. I feel like he's been getting stronger with every game."