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'He’s so loved in the dressing room': Jan Vertonghen heaps praise on Tottenham team-mate Son Heung-min

Jan Vertonghen and Son Heung-min were on target as Spurs took Dortmund apart at Wembley - REUTERS
Jan Vertonghen and Son Heung-min were on target as Spurs took Dortmund apart at Wembley - REUTERS

Jan Vertonghen hailed Son Heung-min as one of the best players in the Premier League after the Tottenham Hotspur forward continued his spectacular run of goalscoring form in Wednesday’s 3-0 victory over Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League.

Son has now scored in four consecutive matches since returning from the Asian Cup in January, helping to fill the gap left by injuries to Harry Kane and Dele Alli. In his last 12 matches for Spurs, the 26-year-old has found the net 11 times.

“I have played with some great players and against some great players, and Sonny is special,” said Vertonghen, who created Son’s goal on Wednesday and then scored the second as Spurs took a commanding first-leg lead over the Bundesliga leaders.

“He is so humble and I think you underestimate that because of the work he puts in. Then his quality - outstanding left foot, right foot. He can play striker, left wing, right wing, he can play as a 10, he played as a wing back. He’s an outstanding player. I am not going to say he is at the level of whoever, but he’s one of the best in the Premier League.”

Asked if he has ever seen Son without the South Korean’s trademark grin, Vertonghen added: “I have seen him stop smiling - I’m not going to say when! But no, he’s a very happy guy. He’s so loved in the dressing room. He gets on with everyone and you can see why, he’s a great player to have around.”

The Spurs defender said the club’s Champions League experiences over the past few seasons under Mauricio Pochettino helped the team to stay calm after struggling against Dortmund in the first half at Wembley.

“It’s four years in a row now we are in the Champions League,” Vertonghen said. “Games like last year, against Real Madrid and Juventus, they help us so much with the experience.

“Dortmund were the better side in the first half but no one panicked at half-time. It was just very calm and [we] said ‘OK, big second half for us to come up and let’s push’ and that’s what we did.

“We won the four previous Premier League games in a very late stage, and we kept that in mind and kept believing in our qualities and it paid off.”

Vertonghen added that the match was made more straightforward by Dortmund’s conservative approach. “We run a lot and maybe expected Dortmund to attack a bit more," he said. "They didn’t. We can all see they stayed in the same position around the halfway line, and that made it easier for us in a way. We just had one task and that was to keep attacking.”