Guglielmo Vicario has reflected on the various things that have gone wrong at Tottenham this season and admitted that he is very proud of the adversities that he and his teammates have overcome to get to a European semifinal.
Leading up to the second leg in Eintracht Frankfurt, the script had seemingly been written for yet another away loss for Tottenham Hotspur and the subsequent dismantling of the coaching setup.
It had been reported that Ange Postecoglou could have been sacked by Friday if Spurs had been knocked out of the Europa League.
What we instead saw was a performance full of grit and character by the players, who were evidently still playing for their manager, and they are now a two-legged semifinal with Bodo/Glimt away from reaching a European final.
Guglielmo Vicario is proud but admits the job is not yet done
One could see from the celebration of the players and the coaching staff after the final whistle at the Deutsche Bank Park just what the result meant to everyone at Tottenham.
Vicario, who was at the thick of those celebrations, admitted that his belief in Postecoglou has never wavered and remarked that reaching a semifinal is particularly special after the struggles that everyone at Hotspur Way has been through this season.
However, the Italian is not merely content with reaching the final four and is very much dreaming of getting his hands on the trophy in Bilbao.
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Vicario told Spurs Play after the 2-1 aggregate win over Frankfurt: “I really believe in this football club, I really believe in this manager, in the way we want to play.
“Everyone suffered a lot this season. It has been a very tough one, but we are still alive and want to fight for something special. It is an important achievement. The job is not done but it’s a big win for Tottenham Hotspur, for everyone, for the boss, for us players, for the staff, for the fans. We are very proud.
“We know what we are capable of when we are really tuned in, when we work hard as a team like we showed. The achievement over two legs was deserved. We showed resilience and a desire to fight.
“We got the job done and deserved to be in the semi-final of a big European competition. It was an amazing night for us. The job is not done. Now we go to the semi-final. We face another tough opponent. But we will fight for sure.”
Could Tottenham’s name be written on the trophy?
Given that everything that can go wrong has gone wrong for Tottenham this season, reaching the semifinals of the Europa League is not an achievement that can be scoffed at.
The Spurs players may start believing their name is written on the trophy, and the performance they delivered in Frankfurt will give them confidence that they can beat anyone on their day.
Ange Postecoglou revealed that the players never stopped believing this season, even amidst extreme adversity, and the Australian now has an opportunity to make his critics eat their words by delivering the trophy he promised in his second season.