RAFA STAYING AT SPURS
Tottenham midfielder Rafael van der Vaart has said that he will be staying with the club even if they do not qualify for the Champions League at the end of the season. Tottenham once had a 13 point advantage over archrivals Arsenal when the two clubs met each other only a few months ago.
Tottenham were leading the match 2-0 and looked on course to win the match, which would have put up a 13 point advantage between them and their arch rivals. However, in a stunning second-half, Arsenal managed to win the match 5-2. Since then, Tottenham have been on the downhill and their possibility of finishing in the top four looks very unlikely now.
Newcastle had just stolen the march on the London club by moving into the fourth position. Even though Newcastle have much tougher run-in than Tottenham, the poor form of the Londoners means that Alan Pardew will look at the prospect of guiding his team to the Champions League after many seasons. As a result of not qualifying for the Champions League, it is expected that Tottenham midfielder Rafael van der Vaart will demand a transfer at the end of the season. The midfielder moved from Real Madrid in 2010 for just £ 8 million. He is used to playing Champions League football, but says that he will accept even if Tottenham finish only with the Europa league in their hands.
“Even if we don’t manage to get into the Champions League, that is no reason for me to leave. Any young player wants to play for Barcelona, Manchester United or Real Madrid. But that is something I’ve done, and I am now happy at Spurs. During our game at Stoke I really thought I was going to walk off after 25 minutes. They did nothing but batter us, tackle and hit long balls. It is totally not my style, although they got a result with it,” the Dutchman said about his future and Stoke City’s tactics.
Tags: Barcelona, van der Vaart