Arsene Wenger recently claimed he does not think the winners of the Europa League should automatically qualify for next season’s Champions League
Ange Postecoglou insists “Spurs does crazy things to people” as he hit back at Arsene Wenger over claims the Europa League winners shouldn’t qualify for next season’s Champions League. Speaking earlier this week, the ex-Arsenal boss – now working as FIFA’s head of global football – appeared to undermine Tottenham and Manchester United’s potential pathway back into Europe’s elite club competition. Wenger told BeIN Sports: “They should qualify automatically for the Europa League again but not necessarily for the Champions League.” However, Postecoglou unsurprisingly does not agree with Wenger’s comments and he claims people are now only bothered about a rule that has existed since the 2014-15 season because it impacts Spurs. The Aussie said ahead of tonight’s crunch semi-final second leg in Norway against Bodo/Glimt: “Well that’s a debate that’s been raging for years mate – at least the last eight days. I’ve never heard that before? I’ve said it before mate, Spurs does crazy things to people, it does, it does.
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“You put that club into any sentence or issue and invariably, they all come out and try and diminish us as much as they can. Why wasn’t it an issue before but it’s an issue now? “What’s the difference, I don’t understand what the difference is? Last year fifth didn’t get you into the Champions League, now it does, what does that mean? There are competition rules, it’s not the first year and there is an asterisk against it that you have to do something else but it’s Spurs mate, they love it, you love it.” Postecoglou quickly clarified that while he did not agree with Wenger, he still respects the Frenchman. He continued: “I’ve got great respect for Arsene, he’s one of the legends of the game but Spurs does do crazy things to people, I love it.”
This is not Postecoglou’s first trip to the Arctic Circle – his Celtic side were dumped out of the UEFA Conference League by Bodo/Glimt following a 2-0 defeat in 2021. Celtic did not train on the artificial pitch at Aspmyra Stadion prior to that loss as Postecoglou claimed there was “not a great deal to be gained.” This time around, however, the 59-year-old was not prepared to make the same mistake as he looks to end Tottenham’s 17-year trophy drought. He said: “It was different circumstances and a different scenario with Celtic. We did it in Frankfurt, we’ve done it consistently in Europe and I just feel it works better for us and the players are used to training the night before at the venue.” After suffering a thigh injury last week during the first leg, Dominic Solanke trained with his Spurs team-mates last night in Norway.
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