Adil Nagporwala

Revealed – How Far and How Fast Did Micky Van de Ven Run for His Solo Goal v Copenhagen

Champions League, Micky van de Ven, Tottenham Hotspur

Tottenham Hotspur face FC Copenhagen on matchday 4 of the league phase of the UEFA Champions League 25/26 at Tottenham Stadium in London. Spurs needed a victory under their belt after a disappointing week or so in different competitions, losing to Newcastle United in the EFL cup, and the loss to Chelsea in the Premier League.

Spurs came out as comfortable winners, winning 4-0 against the Danish side. Except for the red card to Brennan Johnson in the 57th minute of the game, Thomas Frank would be pleased with the overall team performance after being down to 10 men.

However, one out of the four goals scored by Spurs caught the eye of everyone. It was the goal scored by Spurs’ Dutch centre-back Micky Van De Ven. Van De Ven scored the third goal of the game for Spurs in the 64th minute, which made football fans take notice.  

The Dutch centre-back covered the whole length of the pitch, winning the ball in his own half, running through and around several Copenhagen players.

According to Optaanalyst.com, Van De Ven took 10 seconds between taking his first touch at the edge of his own penalty box and scoring the goal, covering a distance of 67.7m with the ball, which means at an approximate speed of 6.77m/s.    

 After the game, Spurs boss Thomas Frank joked about Van De Ven in his post-match press conference to Sky Sports, saying, “He can keep walking past me if he is angry after a game if he delivers this!”. Frank was referring to the moment after the Chelsea loss at the weekend, when Van De Ven appeared to have ignored Frank’s handshake gesture.

This goal by Van de Ven made the football fans think about a similar goal scored by ex-Spurs star Son Heung-min against Burnley in 2019 in the Premier League, which won him the Puskas Award for that season.

This victory against Copenhagen takes Spurs into the top 8 of the UCL league phase standings, remaining unbeaten in the competition.   

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