After 18 games of valiant effort, Luka Modric has scored his first goal for Tottenham since his move from Dinamo Zagreb over the summer. He was a huge influence two weeks ago when Spurs went head-to-head with West Ham. This being Luka’s third game back after recovering from injury, he again proved to be a world class player. Spurs met Spartak Moscow in the last game of the UEFA Cup group stages, needing to come away with a win or at least a tie to advance to the next round. Facing many injuries going into the game, Tottenham showed great ‘character’ to come back from 2-0 down at the break.
Spartak’s first goal came with 22 minutes on the clock from Dzuba after a slip-up from Spurs’ defense. Soon after, Dzuba found the back of the net again. Eight minutes after the hour mark, Luka Modric lifted the Spurs side and put them on the score sheet. Tom Huddlestone followed his lead by making the score an even 2-2, only minutes after.
After the game, Luka described his first Spurs goal as “a fantastic feeling,” adding, “I’ve been waiting for this moment and now I’m very happy. This is my first goal but I hope I keep scoring. It was an important goal and it was important that we didn’t lose this game. But I hope this goal now gives me confidence for future games, and I want to score in the Premier League. I’ve been close in previous games, but hopefully this will take the pressure off me a little! This is a big competition with strong teams and I’m very happy that we are staying in the UEFA Cup.”
Tom Huddlestone, the other goal scorer, looking forward to the next round said, “We knew the importance of the game and that to guarantee qualification, we couldn’t afford to lose the match. A club this size wants to be involved in as many competitions as possible, so it was vital we got through.”
Friday afternoon, next round fixtures were drawn for the UEFA Cup. Spurs have been drawn with Ukrainian Shakhtar Donetsk. The first leg will be played either February 18th or 19th and the second leg is to be played on the 26th of February 2009.
Jill Guthrie
