“It was special” – Tottenham legend opens about historic Champions League qualification

Tottenham Hotspur have one foot in the Champions League quarter finals after thrashing Borussia Dortmund 3-0 at Wembley last week. This is the third consecutive season that Spurs have qualified for Europe’s most prestigious cup competition, and they seem to be improving every year.

However, it wasn’t always like this for the Lillywhites as they tried in vain for several years to qualify for the competition. The first time Spurs achieved the feat was in the 2009-10 season under the stewardship of Harry Redknapp.

Tottenham were locked in a four battle with Liverpool, Aston Villa and Manchester City for the fourth spot and it looked at one point as if Tottenham were out of contention.

However, Spurs managed to put together a run late in the season which included wins against London rivals Arsenal and Chelsea to set up a final showdown at the Etihad stadium in a winner take all situation.

Tottenham dominated the game against a star-studded Man City who had invested heavily into their squad and eventually got the winner through Peter Crouch late in the game. One person who certainly understood how much the result and Champions League qualification meant for Spurs was club captain Ledley King.

King had been with the club for a long time and had experienced several lows including the infamous ‘Lasagne-gate’ in 2004-05 season. The defender whose recurring knee problem meant that he couldn’t train in the later stages of his career, has opened up about the experience of pipping Man City to the fourth spot.

Speaking about the win against City, King told the club’s official website, “It was one of those nights you want to be involved in. For many years, we’d watched games that meant something and I always wanted to be in those games – that was one.

“To go away from home against a very good City team, they’d just started to spend big money, and do that was special.

“What this game told me was about our team spirit and desire. Crouchy’s winning goal – it was pandemonium. We all went over to the fans afterwards. It meant so much to everyone, a special, special night.”

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