Igor Tudor has provided his assessment of when we can expect Tottenham Hotspur to return to European competitions.
Spurs signed off from the Champions League with an impressive 3-2 win at home against Atletico Madrid, with the La Liga side running out 7-5 winners in the tie overall.
Tottenham’s jaw-dropping European home record continued, with the Lilywhites now unbeaten at their stadium in their last 26 European fixtures, having won 22 of them.
That stands in sharp contrast to Spurs’ shocking recent home record in the Premier League since the start of last year.
Igor Tudor says European football could be back at Tottenham in 2027-28
Spurs entered the Champions League through the back door by winning the Europa League last season, but there will be no European games at the club’s billion-dollar stadium next year.
However, Tudor believes that there is no reason the club cannot be back competing with the continent’s elite in the 2027-28 season.
When asked if he is confident that it will be long before Tottenham are back in Europe, he told Football.London: “No, why should it be? Next year, no. The year after that, you can go again. Why not? Winning this trophy last season gave confidence to the players, for sure. Because, as you know, it’s totally different if you have this experience in European competition, with a lot of players who win that.
“This gives you more confidence when you play European competition games. So we saw this even today. When you are the [Europa League] winner and you come to play today, you feel strong. So they show this in the pitch from the first moment.”
However, the Croatian boss is unlikely to still be in North London by that point. Reports say that Tottenham have already told Tudor they want to hire someone else permanently in the summer.
Tudor admits regret about Spurs’ first leg capitulation
The Lilywhites put Atletico under real pressure yesterday, even though the La Liga side came into the fixture with one leg already in the quarterfinal.
It may have been a different game if Tottenham had lost the first leg by one goal less last week, and Tudor admits he does have regrets over his side’s mistakes in Madrid.
Speaking after his first win as Spurs boss, the Croat said: “After seeing today, there is even more questions about the first game. If it didn’t happen, what happened, I believe we have a good chance to pass against Atletico Madrid.
“Even I need to repeat that today we have again 11 players and on the bench just one player. One player is Danso. All three players – Bergvall, Udogie and Conor – doctors say they can play at least maximum 20 minutes, 25 minutes. So you have only Danso as a substitute. You play with 11 plus Danso in this kind of a game, and I don’t count these two young players.
“So imagine the situation, imagine the value of this victory here. You need to make a proclamation of substitutes, what happens if someone is out, how we can deal with Bergvall and Conor. So it’s a really particular moment, but you know how it is here in Tottenham, better than me with this kind of injuries. The value of this performance is even bigger because of these things.”