Moura: Playing Burnley is like going to war

By Alessandro Schiavone

Lucas Moura likened yesterday’s 1-0 win over Burnley to war given how tough it is to break their barricade down each time they meet.

The Brazilian winger broke his duck for the season as his 66th-minute goal secured Tottenham’s progress to the quarter-finals of the Carabao Cup.

The win at Turf Moor ended a run of two defeats as Tottenham gear up to try and pile more misery on Manchester United and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer on Saturday afternoon in the Premier League.

After the game the 29-year-old said: “I feel very good. First of all because of the performance. We played very well and deserved the win. I’m very happy to score and help the team. That’s my job.

“We controlled the game from the beginning, but it’s always difficult to play here. It’s like a war."

"We knew it would be like this, but we were very solid, didn’t give them any space and we could have scored more goals.

"It showed our mentality and spirit. In a game like this we need to know how to suffer, to close the gate behind and hold the result. The last 10 minutes were very tough, very difficult, but in the end everything went well.”

The win temporarily lifts the pressure on manager Nuno Espirito Santos, who side sit sixth in the table but have already stumbled to four defeats in nine Premier League outings.

When asked what this morale-boosting win means for Tottenham’s season, the head coach said: “It means a lot after West Ham and before United. I thought at West Ham we played well, but we conceded from a corner and that was our mistake. That’s why the feeling was bad, but that’s football, that’s the Premier League.

“Now, the feeling is good before the game against United. We prepare from now and go with everything. It’s a big game, a game all players love to play in, so let’s prepare from now and be ready for this game.”