Dominic Solanke says ‘sticking together’ helped Spurs reach Europa League final | OneFootball

Dominic Solanke hailed Tottenham’s togetherness after victory over Bodo/Glimt sent them through to the Europa League final and one win away from much-craved silverware.

Solanke’s 63rd-minute opener in the Arctic Circle ensured Spurs had one foot in Bilbao after a 3-1 first-leg success last week before Pedro Porro’s cross-shot crept in six minutes later to spark celebrations among the club’s 404 away fans.

It has been a season mired by injuries, inconsistent results and speculation over the future of boss Ange Postecoglou, but Tottenham are within touching distance of a first trophy in 17 years ahead of an all-English final with Manchester United on May 21.

“We’re delighted (for Postecoglou). He’s kept us on track the whole season and got us to where we are now,” Solanke reflected.

“We’ve all been on the same board from the start of the season. It’s been difficult in the league but we knew from the start that we wanted to try and win something.

“We’ve managed to stick together the whole time.

“It means everything to the players, staff and fans as well. It’s obviously been a difficult season in the league but we’ve put in good performances in Europe.

“We knew it was going to be a difficult game but we got the job done and got into the final so hopefully we can go on and win it.”

Solanke’s close-range finish at Aspmyra Stadion was his 15th goal of a quietly-impressive debut campaign in north London.

It cost Spurs £65million to sign Solanke from Bournemouth last August and, while he recently went 11 matches without scoring either side of a seven-week lay-off with a knee injury, his latest contribution in Norway made it 23 goal contributions this season.

He added: “Pressure is a privilege. I came to the club in the summer, obviously it’s a big club so it was big boots to fill.

“In the league we could have done better. Maybe I could have done better as well, but in a European tournament, we’re so close to winning the trophy which the club has wanted for years now. Everyone, the fans, the staff and us players too.

“There’s been some tough games recently but we’ve all played our part.

“When you’re at big clubs, you always want to be fighting for silverware. We’ve got the chance to do that in a few weeks.

“We’ll need to prepare well but we’re going to enjoy it. It’s not often you make the final of a European competition.

“These are the games that we live for, really. That we dreamt about when we were young.

“It’s a privilege, but the job’s not done.”

Left-back Destiny Udogie is another Spurs player to have been affected by injury, but has rediscovered his best form for the knock-out stages and is eager to help the club win its first European trophy since 1984 UEFA Cup success.

Udogie said: “As a group and as a family, every day we speak about being together and fighting on the pitch together.

“Obviously the manager has done a great job. He is helping us every day to be confident and to go out there and play our best football.

“Yeah, I think as a group and as a club, we deserve a trophy, so we want to bring it home and we’ll give our best.”