Tottenham Hotspur boss Ange Postecoglou was full of praise for Rodrigo Bentancur after the midfielder put in an impressive goalscoring performance at Old Trafford.
With Yves Bissouma and Pape Matar Sarr both on international duty, Postecoglou named Bentancur as part of a three-man midfield alongside Oliver Skipp and Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg in Tottenham’s 2-2 draw with Manchester United yesterday afternoon.
Bentancur earned the visitors a point when just fifty seconds into the second half, he latched onto a clever pass from debutant Timo Werner to power the ball beyond Andre Onana.
The 26-year-old was dealt a crushing injury setback in November when making his first start since February after a serious knee injury in the loss versus Aston Villa, he was forced off following a heavy challenge from Matty Cash and was expected to be out of action for at least two-and-a-half months.
Rodrigo Bentancur receives praise from Ange Postecoglou
The former Juventus midfielder made his surprise return to take the captain’s armband in the 1-0 FA Cup win against Burnley and his return to action earlier that anticipated saw Postecoglou reveal that Bentancur had approached him a fortnight ago to put himself up for consideration for selection due to a shortage of personnel.
Postecoglou told Football.London when asked about his character to return from injury: “Yeah outstanding. It does. He’s another one who, the initial diagnosis he should still be out from what we looked at as a recovery time. He came to me a couple of weeks ago and said ‘look I want to help, I need to play, I need to help these guys’. He could see we were going through a rough time.
“It is a testament to his character. He is an outstanding person. Part of the reason I made him skipper in the last game was just to reward him for the person he is and again he was outstanding today I thought.
“When we needed to get on the ball and show some composure he was outstanding and again he’s nowhere near the fitness levels or the level he wants to be, but he will get there and when he does he’ll be a fantastic asset for us to have in the team.
SpursWeb Opinion
It is great to see that Bentancur has bounced back from two disappointing injuries and can now hopefully remain fit for the remainder of the season, especially over the course of the next six weeks with Sarr and Bissouma at AFCON.
His performance at Old Trafford was sublime, he suited playing in an advanced midfield role and with a full-strength Spurs squad, it would have been a case of Tottenham comfortably taking all three points.
Skipp and Hojbjerg put in a decent shift, but it is still clear to see that Tottenham need to get another midfielder in through the door before the transfer window closes at the end of the month.