Son Heung-min has revealed that his eyes lit up as soon as he saw Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg’s cross and he was pleased with the connection he got on the volley.
Son produced his best performance of the season so far on Wednesday to help Tottenham emerge with a 3-2 win over Eintracht Frankfurt, a result which took the Lilywhites to the top spot in Group D.
The South Korean showed great composure to slide the ball past Kevin Trapp in the 20th minute after being played through on goal by Harry Kane before hitting a thumping volley off his left foot that almost ripped through the net.
In the end, the game proved to be much closer than it should have been after Tottenham squandered many opportunities in the second half, and Son admitted that he was nervous watching on from the bench in the final few minutes.
The forward told BT Sport: “The last five minutes were really tough. In the Champions League, you never know what will happen. It was uncomfortable sitting on the bench and watching. The most important thing was the three points.”
Son’s first-half equaliser was the 50th time that Kane and Son have combined for a goal across all competitions (Opta Joe), and the 30-year-old suggested that the secret to the partnership is the hard work that the pair put in on the training ground.
When asked about his link-up with Kane, the former Bayer Leverkusen man said: “We just understand each other really well.
“I know what he likes to do and he’s the same. The relationship, it’s always hard work and good effort. It’s always been a pay-off for hard work. Many more to come I hope.
“It’s our home and we don’t want to go 1-0 down. A team mistake. In football, there’s always mistakes. We bounced back. At half-time 3-1 really good performance and result. In the second half, we needed to score more to finish the game.”
Speaking about his second goal, Son stated that he was very pleased with the connection he got on the volley.
He said: “When the ball came to me, Pierre saw me before crossing. The ball was just really clear to me and there was only one option to take the volley. I hit it really clean. I was very happy.
“It was a really important win. Positive things but always room for improvement. We have to improve because we have a massive game at the weekend.
“There’s still two games to play. We have to go again. Two tough games, we need to prepare more than the other teams.”
Spurs Web Opinion
The most encouraging thing to come from Tottenham’s win on Wednesday was Son’s performance. The South Korean looked confident and did not second guess himself in one vs one situations.
That has not been the case so far this season as he has seemed a little indecisive. This is exactly the kind of performance the 30-year-old needed to get back on track.