AVB Wants More Goals from Europa League Hero Dembele
Andre Villas-Boas hopes that Mousa Dembele can find the net on a more regular basis after his superb strike secured Tottenham a place in the last-16 of the Europa League.
Spurs were on the verge of elimination as they struggled to find a response to Maxime Gonalons first half header but a 90<sup>th minute striker from the Belgium international earned the club an exciting tie against Italian giants Inter Milan.
The sweetly struck shot from Dembele was just his second goal since arriving at White Hart Lane in the summer and it has been a long after opening his account on his debut against Norwich.
Now Villas-Boas wants the midfielder to contribute goals on a more regular basis as Tottenham push for a top four finish and success in the Europa League.
"It's an important goal for him," Villas-Boas told the Tottenham website. "It's something he recognises that he has to do more often and this time, he got his reward. It's important for his self-confidence and it was a great goal to put us through."
The former Chelsea boss was pleased with the overall performance and he felt as though Spurs were worthy of a place in the next round.
"I think it's fully deserved for what we did over the two legs," added AVB. "The team did extremely well in the second half to come back into the game and overall, I think we deserved to go through.
"In the first half we didn't play so well. We controlled possession a lot but we went a goal down, that was unlucky, but in the second half we upped the tempo, kept possession and were much more aggressive, more objective, got crosses in, shots in and created chances. In the end, we got the reward we deserved."
Now, three years after last facing Inter Milan, Tottenham will have the chance to qualify for the quarter-finals of the competition and Villas-Boas is excited by the prospect of facing the Italians.
"If you go through against Lyons and then Inter, it puts you in a good place to win the competition," said Villas-Boas. "It will be extremely difficult [against Inter] but we approach the game to win it.
"Inter won the Champions League in 2010 and they represent a step up in terms of the competition we can face. It's a great, great fixture for us and I'm really happy to be able to play a game like this in this competition."
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