Dejan Kulusevski and James Maddison are both back in the Tottenham side, and their return helped Spurs to their first league win of the season at home, against Coventry, as Roberto De Zerbi’s project finally showed signs of life.
There was no grand emotional outpouring, no quiet moment of reflection, nor a vulnerable look to the heavens as Kulusevski prepared to make his long-awaited comeback from injury. He shared a brief exchange with the oft-impassioned Roberto De Zerbi, glanced at the tactics board, and was away, roared onto the pitch by the 60,000-strong Spurs support.
It is a testament to Kulusevski’s selfless, God-fearing personality that he could put his own emotional return to one side to help Spurs over the line.
Kulusevski makes an instant impact
De Zerbi introduced Kulusevski with the game finely balanced and Coventry pushing for an equaliser. It was evident the steely-eyed Swedish playmaker was not just there for moral support.
His rampaging runs into the channels got Spurs up the pitch at a time when they threatened to retreat into their own box. Despite nearly 18 months on the sidelines, there was no sign that Kulusevski felt physically inhibited as he put Coventry on the back foot.
After the full-time whistle, a wave of relief rippled round the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. Kulusevski indulged in the emotion of an occasion he thought only a few months ago might not be possible, sharing a long embrace with Maddison, who has been on his own journey back to fitness.
“Football for me is like breathing”
Speaking to the media in the tunnel, Kulusevski described how he had told his loved ones that he may never set foot on a football pitch again. Then, as if by chance, his daughter ran past wearing a shirt with “my hero, 526” written on the back. Family has been his driving force, and the reason for his will to return even when it felt impossible.
“Imagine when everyone give up on you. Imagine that you can’t, and you know football for me is like breathing,” Kulusevski said as he paused to reflect on a momentous evening for himself and his family.
“Imagine you can’t breathe for two years, but still you have a family, you show up, you do it with a smile, you go with your teammates, you hype them up, and that takes a lot of love, a lot of courage and a lot of belief.”
Spurs find what they have been missing
Spurs looked a more confident, more clinical team with Maddison and Kulusevski back fit. De Zerbi believes that “with them in the dressing room, there is another atmosphere.”
They are different characters, but their journeys are similar, and De Zerbi knows Spurs must look to both men for inspiration on and off the pitch.
It was a rare home win, just Tottenham’s sixth in their past 37 home league games. It owed a great deal to Maddison’s influence on his first start in 17 months, and to Kulusevski, and it showed Spurs exactly what they have been missing.
The north Londoners’ issues are myriad, but it is no coincidence that they have lacked creativity and conviction without Maddison and Kulusevski in the side.
If Spurs are to push on this season, they would do well to learn from the pair. Their mental resilience is an example for the rest of the team, and something that has been in short supply.