Dejan Kulusevski claims Bodo/Glimt’s artificial turf is “different” before next week’s Europa League semi-final second leg with Tottenham heading to Norway with a two-goal lead
Dejan Kulusevski has claimed Tottenham have to practise on artificial turf to prepare for the “different football” in their Europa League semi-final return in Norway next week. Spurs will take a two-goal lead to the Arctic Circle for the second leg against Bodo/Glimt.
But the Norwegian champions have an artificial pitch at their Aspmyra Stadium – and have won nine of their 10 European home games this season. Asked if Spurs need to prepare on plastic grass, Swedish star Kulesevski said: “Yes, probably we have to do it. It is good for me. I have been playing it in Sweden so I should be prepared.
“It is different. It is different football, it is a different pitch. But in life, you have to do what you have to do to find a way to win. And we have got to do that.”
Tottenham had led 3-0 through goals from Brennan Johnson, James Maddison and Dominic Solanke.. But a late strike from stand-in skipper Ulriki Saltnes gave the Norwegians hope for the second leg.
But Kulusevski, who appeared as a second-half substitute, said: “I think it is enough. Happy with the 3-1 win. It is good to be winning an important game like this. The late goal makes the second leg more difficult but we are still two up. We are Tottenham and we have to go there and win the game. Of course 3-0 is perfect. But like I said, life is not perfect.”
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The former Juventus said the pre-match atmosphere at Tottenham Stadium was “beautiful, really beautiful” and helped Spurs take the lead after only 38 seconds.
“Yes, it was unbelievable. The energy was there. Then we got to 2-0. We always wanted more goals but 3-1 is good. We played well. This season has been really disappointing but at least, let’s finish it in the best possible way. We have got to do everything possible every day to make it happen.”
Spurs reached the semi-finals by beating 2022 champions Eintracht Frankfurt away and Kulusevski added: “When you do performances like that, you want to repeat them. I think in Europe, we play a little bit different. We play with less risk and we put the ball up more in the space like we did today and we got to keep doing that in Europe.”
Spurs manager Ange Postecolgou took his Celtic side to Bodo/Glimt in the Europa Conference League in February 2022 and lost 2-0 there – and 5-1 on aggregate.
“Yeah, look it is on artificial grass but it’s still a game of football,” said the Aussie. “I’ve been there, played there with Celtic, I know the experience and what is important for us is we need to replicate what we did today. Irrespective of the surface, if we’re as disciplined and as organised as we were today, with and without the ball, it won’t matter what the surface is, I think it will make it really difficult for us to be stopped.”
But Bodo/Glimt boss Kjetil Knutsen, who was in charge for the Celtic win, claimed: “I think the goal is really important. First of all, if you see when Tottenham conceded a goal, they were really disappointed. They lose energy and I think we got a lot of energy because of the goal.
“I think we can take the energy from this game into the next game. It’s totally different for us to play at home. I think we still have an opportunity here. We are not the favourites but we will really go for it.”
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