Micky van de Ven makes admission about that heroic goal line clearance in Europa League final

Micky van de Ven has revealed what was going through his mind when he saw Rasmus Hojlund’s header heading into the back of Tottenham’s net in the Europa League final.

While goalscorers are the ones who are often remembered in finals, one can argue that it is Van de Ven’s unbelievable clearance in the second half that will be the enduring memory for Spurs fans from the game in Bilbao.

Tottenham were defending with all ten men behind the ball in the final 30 minutes of the game as United continued to throw bodies forward in search of an equaliser.

On 68 minutes, the Hojlund thought he had equalised for the Red Devils as he headed the ball into what was an empty goal, with Guglielmo Vicario out of position.

However, Van de Ven saw the danger and produced an outstanding clearance off the line, with some of his Spurs teammates in disbelief at what the Dutchman did.

Micky van de Ven opens on that match-winning clearance

The centre-back got up and got on with the game after that clearance, but he has now admitted that the landing was pretty painful as he found himself falling awkwardly after somehow managing to get his chin on the ball to send it over the crossbar.

Van de Ven explained that he had anticipated the situation once he saw Vicario out of his line and had just one thing on his mind when he saw Hojlund’s header looping into the net.

When asked about his clearance, the 24-year-old said (via Football.London): “I can tell you it was painful! Vic came out, the ball bounced on his head. I don’t know how to be honest. The ball came to Hojlund and I was like ‘I need to go to the goal line because if he heads over Vic, that’s going to be a goal’.

“I saw the ball coming and to be honest, the ball was high and I was like ‘I don’t know how I’m going to do this’, but I just tried everything I could and I saved it. It was all worth it because we kept the clean sheet. Some back issues afterwards but it’s all worth it!”

Van de Ven was delighted that Tottenham proved their critics wrong

It is clear that the Spurs players wanted to send a message to those who have been extremely critical of the club all season, with Brennan Johnson responding in style to the ‘Spursy’ insult after the win on Wednesday.

Van de Ven has admitted that the desire to prove the doubters wrong was a huge driving factor for him and his teammates, with the centre-back also stressing the role Ange Postecoglou played in ensuring that the squad never lost belief.

When asked how it feels like to be a Europa League champion, the former Wolfsburg man responded: “An unbelievable feeling, of course. In the league we didn’t do really well, everybody was doubting us, but I think we all proved them wrong,” said Van de Ven. “Today we’re here, we’re lifting a trophy and have made some history, so of course that’s an unbelievable feeling.

“Every time we played in Europe, we showed our quality, we showed how we can play. The gaffer had a big role in this, he kept believing in us, the whole staff kept believing in us. He just made sure we stayed together and as a group we stayed together. We kept believing that we could create history with this group and we did it.”

• READ MORE: Tottenham fans will love what James Maddison said about Postecoglou after Europa League win

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