‘It’s crazy’: Jan Vertonghen on Ajax, Tottenham and the hottest ticket in town

Jan Vertonghen had not quite had the chance to get his head around the fact Tottenham Hotspur were in the Champions League semi-finals, in the few hours after such a dramatic, emotion-draining two-legged victory against Manchester City.

Not least that it would be a meeting in the last four of Europe’s premier knock-out competition against the Dutch club where he spent three of his formative years as a teenager and six more when he first began playing first-team football.

“I will sit down in the coach and read my texts and probably the applications for tickets and I will realise how big this game is,” the Spurs defender said. Many of his teammates were likely doing the same.

Hot ticket

It is the hot ticket everyone wants. On one half of the draw the glitz or Barcelona and the flair of Liverpool — two huge spenders of recent years — on the other the team Vertonghen left for £12million seven years ago in their first Champions League semi-final in 22 years, against the team he now, at 31 years old and heading towards the end of his career, plays for in their first in 57 years. A match representing a meeting of two of the game’s current great stories: the lack of spending compared to rivals, the attractive football, the pure coaching.

“Obviously it’s crazy that they’re there, an even bigger surprise that Ajax is there than us probably,” Vertonghen added. “I follow them every game, I speak to the people at the club, I know how good they are, I’ve watched every game. At the beginning in the Champions League they surprised everyone but now it’s not a surprise any more. They are of this level, they are Champions League semi-final quality. That’s how it is. It will be an unbelievable battle between two positive sides. I know how good they are, because obviously knocking Real Madrid and Juventus out is crazy.”

Teammate Dele Alli added: “We’ve proven we deserve to be here at the top among the top teams in the world. We want to keep improving each season and I think we’e done that since we’ve been together getting further and further in the Champions League each year.

“We need to really make out mark and it’s going to be another tough game. They’re a top side, a young side but we’re looking forward to the challenge.”