Tottenham will travel to Amsterdam on Wednesday looking to turn around a 1-0 deficit against Ajax after they lost the first leg to a solitary first-half strike from Donny van de Beek.
The Lilywhites go into the fixture as underdogs after being outplayed by the Dutch giants at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium last Tuesday evening.
Tottenham striker Fernando Llorente has insisted that the players need to leave everything out on the pitch, in what will one the biggest games in the club’s recent history.
Speaking to the Daily Mail, the 34-year-old striker said, “It’s 90 minutes and we have to be willing to die on the pitch, to make sure we leave it all out there, and do our best.
“We have a lot of options to win the game and get to the final.
“The mentality is that we need to be aggressive, we have to be confident in ourselves. We are in the semi-finals because we’re doing really well, playing with confidence.
“We won against Manchester City because we did something well and we have to keep trying in the same way as that game. We have to be ready to fight.”
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The Spaniard also said that Spurs will look to play as they did in the second half of the first leg by being aggressive and winning the ball high up the pitch.
He added, “We didn’t start very well in the first game, but Ajax started very well and it was difficult to recover the ball.
“We ran a lot behind the ball and maybe that’s why we were in our half and suffering a little, because they were playing well.
“We want to start the second leg differently, be aggressive and try to keep the ball and play.
“But they do a good press and we sometimes have the possibility to play long and try to play higher up the pitch.
“In the second half we started well because we were aggressive, we recovered the ball in their half and that’s why we had more opportunities and were close to scoring.”
The World Cup winner also talked about the unbelievable opportunity to be a part of the final in Madrid and said that this group of players deserved to be part of such a special occasion.
He said, “We’re making big progress. It’s really difficult to be in the semi-final of the Champions League and we have to take this opportunity because it’s amazing.
“The possibility to be in the Champions League final is unbelievable and this group deserves it.”
Spurs Web Opinion
Truth be told, Tottenham should consider themselves lucky to still be in the tie after being completely outplayed in the first leg and could have easily been 3-0 down at half time.
However, at 1-0 the tie is still very much alive, and with Son Heung-Min back for the game, Spurs will be hoping to cause the Ajax defence a lot more problems and book their place in their first ever Champions League final where they will face either Barcelona or Liverpool.
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