Tottenham Hotspur centre-back Micky van de Ven has called Eintracht Frankfurt forward Hugo Ekitike an ‘unbelievable threat’ but said he hopes to ‘eliminate’ him from tonight’s Europa League clash.
Spurs travel to Germany for the second leg of their quarter-final tie tonight, with the score tied at 1-1 on aggregate. The North Londoners dominated the first game but were unable to carve out an advantage, ahead of tonight’s return.
Spurs suffered an early setback last week when Ekitike scored a brilliant individual goal after just six minutes.
Ekitiké cutting in and hitting the corner 🦅@Eintracht | #UEL pic.twitter.com/Ip1cZaDd29
— UEFA Europa League (@EuropaLeague) April 12, 2025
The Frenchman has scored 21 goals in all competitions this season and has drawn admiring glances from Premier League teams ahead of the summer transfer window.
Speaking at a pre-match press conference, Van de Ven said the Spurs backline are aware of the threat the 22-year-old poses.
“He’s a really good player and scored a really good goal against us. You can see his qualities,” Van de Ven said.
“Tomorrow for me and the person playing next to me, it’s our job to eliminate him from the game. He’s an unbelievable threat for them. He’s a really good player. So we have to eliminate him and then hopefully we can get the win.”
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