Heung-min Son has called Tottenham Hotspur’s 1-0 defeat at AZ Alkmaar ‘a big wake up call’ and has labelled next week’s second leg ‘the biggest game of the season’.
Spurs slipped to a 1-0 defeat in the first leg of their last-16 Europa League tie in Alkmaar. The North Londoners were second best in a meek showing, with AZ unfortunate to not secure a bigger lead to take to North London.
Ange Postecoglou’s side fell behind to a nightmare Lucas Bergvall own goal, as the teenager’s attempted clearance was sliced horribly into the air and into the far corner. It was the nadir of a poor night, one that saw Spurs muster just one effort on target.
Tottenham fell to AZ Alkmaar 1-0 in the first leg of their Europa League tie.
Their only shot on target wasn’t until the 87th minute 🫠 pic.twitter.com/QfWDWVLDZF
— B/R Football (@brfootball) March 6, 2025
Guglielmo Vicario prevented the home side from adding to their advantage with a string of saves, including an excellent stop one-vs-one against former Spurs striker Troy Parrott. A miserable night was compounded when substitute Dominic Solanke limped off injured late on. The club’s record signing was making his first appearance since January due to a knee injury.
Son slammed the performance from his side and said the display was ‘nowhere near’ good enough. He called next week’s second leg the club’s biggest game of the season, as Spurs look to salvage their season with Europa League success and Champions League qualification.
“It’s nowhere near where we should perform. It was very disappointing that we performed like this, including me. It’s a big wake up call because next week is the biggest game of the season,” he said to TNT Sports.
“I really don’t think there was too much caution. It’s always tough to play away in the Europa League. We didn’t create anything in the first half, sloppiness, not performing the way we should.
“Everyone is very disappointed about the individual performance and the team performance, we have to look at ourselves. There is no excuses, we were not good enough. It’s just 1-0, it’s still not finished, and next week we have to be much better.”
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