TOTTENHAM’S Son Heung-min is determined to leave Madrid with more than just tears for souvenirs.
The South Korean’s eyes are full of excitement and expectation as he looks forward to the biggest club game of his career when his team take on Liverpool in tonight’s Champions League final in Madrid.
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But roll the clock back to the end of last June in Rostov in Russia and they were full of tears after his country’s 2-1 defeat by Mexico confirmed their World Cup exit.
The Spurs star, 26, was simply inconsolable as he broke down first on the pitch and then in the dressing room afterwards when South Korea’s president popped in to commiserate with the players.
That is why Son will be doing everything he can to ensure he leaves Atletico’s Wanda Metropolitano Stadium with a winners’ medal around his neck instead of more tears running down his cheeks.
He said: “I am a guy who doesn’t want to lose. I know every player will say that, but I get really upset when I lose in big matches and I can’t help how I react.
“When we were knocked out of the World Cup I was very disappointed with my performance and with my team because I felt we could and should have done much better.
“But you learn so much from it. So much so that 11 months later I am looking forward to playing in a Champions League final.
“It’s amazing. I have gone through so much in 11 months — and so have Tottenham — and now we have the chance to prove we are better than before. Look, you can’t always be happy but I try to be because I don’t want to lose.”
So will his sprinklers be turned on again if Tottenham fail to beat the Reds? He added: “I cannot stop the tears when they come. I don’t mean to cry, it just happens.
NO MORE TEARS
“I cried at the World Cup in 2014 and then last year again in Russia.
“I don’t want to cry again. It’s not that I’m emotional, it’s just that I don’t like losing.”
As it stands Arsenal, Chelsea and West Ham fans have been the ones in tears following rival Tottenham’s sensational run to their first final in Europe’s top competition.
Spurs have fought back from the brink with Son — who has netted four goals en route — more than playing his part.
He said: “Yes, but what it means is how hard we have worked to get to the final.
“Of course we didn’t do well at the start of this competition and after three games we had one point. But you can’t win all the time in football and we got better.
“Then as we went through the last 16 and quarter-final we started to believe more we could get there. That’s what gave us the belief and made us change the game at Ajax.”
Those who watched that semi- final second leg in Amsterdam will never forget what they witnessed.
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With Ajax leading 2-0 at half-time and 3-0 on aggregate following their 1-0 win in the first leg in London a week earlier, Spurs were dead and buried.
But Son and his team-mates pulled off one of football’s greatest ever recoveries after the break as Lucas Moura’s hat-trick, his third coming in the 95th minute, sent Mauricio Pochettino’s boys through.
Winger Son said: “That game was incredible. It’ll go down in history. When we were 3-0 down everybody who knows anything about football would have said we were out. And maybe even the players did not believe we could reach the final.
“But the one thing we did know was that we could play better than we did in the first half. That’s why in the second half we were so much stronger physically.
“It wasn’t so much that Ajax didn’t work as hard in the second half, it was because we came out and worked so much harder.
“And that was surprising for their players.”
It also stunned Ajax’s cocky fans who taunted the travelling Tottenham support by singing Bob Marley’s ‘Three Little Birds’ during the half-time break.
The North Londoners need not have worried indeed as every little thing turned out to be all right.
Son said: “When the final whistle went I simply couldn’t believe we were in the Champions League final.
Everybody thought we were out at Ajax, except Tottenham. You have to keep going until the referee’s very last whistle. Or else you could end up very unhappy.
Son Heung-min
“For a time after the game I felt like I was playing in it still. It was crazy and I was very emotional. Totally mad.
“But it shows you football is not about 45 minutes, it is about 90 minutes or even longer. I have said that many times. You can be 3-0 up at half-time and think to yourself the job is done.
“This is very difficult for me to explain… attitude is very important.
“After 3-0 you may want to score four, five or six goals, but it is very important you keep playing the game.
“Like I said before, everybody thought we were out at Ajax, except Tottenham.
“But it is no good thinking you are through after 75 minutes or even 90 minutes. You must keep playing and realise the game is never won until the very end.
“You have to keep going until the referee’s very last whistle. Or else you could end up very unhappy.”
With Madrid in the grip of a heatwave it will hardly be the ideal weather for football tonight. But Son refuses to let it get him down.
He said “I just try to be happy. Of course you can’t be happy all the time but I’m healthy, my family is healthy, I play football, which is my dream.
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“I’m playing in the Champions League final. I just don’t try to think negatively. Try to be positive.
“If the sun is shining then everyone is happy.”
And so will Spurs be if Son is shining tonight.
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