Dele Alli scored a brilliant overhead kick and then hugged Son Heung-min after getting substituted
The season started well for Tottenham Hotspur, but since the turn of the decade it hasn’t been perfect, they have dropped down to 9th position in the Premier League. Spurs have lost in 5 out of their last 6 outings in the Premier League with winning the UEFA Europa League looking like their best option at a UEFA Champions League spot next season.
Just like the club, their English midfielder Dele Alli had a bright start to the season starting the season opener against Everton after a rather difficult last months under Mauricio Pochettino and a difficult start to life in Jose Mourinho’s Spurs team which saw him being dropped for a number of matches having failed to impress the ‘Special One’ in training.
However, the sun didn’t shine for long and Alli’s form dipped again as he missed 15 out of the 25 Premier League games this season, playing only a total of 113 minutes (TransferMrkt). He was a more regular occurrence in the Europa League matches, scoring twice in six games.
A failed transfer negotiation between Tottenham and PSG, which could’ve seen Alli reunite with Pochettino, the manager who brought Dele Alli to Tottenham, also did not go down well with the player as people noticed that he liked tweets that mentioned they Alli should be playing in every game.
His most recent involvement in the Premier League came in Spurs’ match against West Ham United where he was on the field for 13 minutes.
However, Alli has been smart enough to make the most of his time, and after starting in the first leg against Wolfsberger in the Europa League he took to social media saying that he’s feeling better and more like himself.
And this mentality and good form in the Europa League continued in the second leg where he scored a wondrous bicycle-kick goal and also provided assists for Gareth Bale and Carlos Vinícius in the second half.
After Alli was subbed off in the 81st minute, he could be seen giving Son Heung-min a hug. The South Korean stalwart, who was on the bench after recovering from a recent injury was elated for Dele Alli after his incredible performance in the match. The heartwarming moment perfectly encapsulates the beauty of football and how much it means to players to get to play the game they love day in, day out.
It showed how much it meant to Alli to get the game time, to contribute to the game, bag a wonder goal and to be able to repay the trust of fans and the manager. It also highlighted the chemistry between the players and how much it means to them to see each other excel and reminded us that the love for the game is beyond everything else.
Oh god this photo just made me cry bcs of how genuine this moment is 🥺 im sure son is one of the people that really wants to see dele in a good form again and tonight he watched dele on fire 😭 pic.twitter.com/DIoIyVatMs
