Igor Tudor makes Tottenham prediction after Champions League exit | OneFootball

Interim head coach earned first victory despite aggregate defeat

Igor Tudor backed Tottenham to soon be back playing European football after their Champions League exit.

Tudor's side were knocked out 7-5 on aggregate, though there were real positives to take ahead of a crucial relegation six-pointer against Nottingham Forest on Sunday.

The last-16 exit guaranteed that Spurs will not play in Europe next season, but Tudor is confident that the club will not go without for too long.

“No, why should it be?” he said.

“Next year, no. The year after that, [we] can go again. Why not?

"Winning [the Europa League] trophy last season gave confidence to the players, for sure. It's totally different if you have this experience in European competition, with a lot of players who win that

“This gives you more confidence when you play European competition games.

"We saw this even today. When you are the [Europa League] winner and you come to play today, you feel strong. They showed this on the pitch from the first moment."

Tudor bemoaned a nightmare 25 minutes at the start of the first leg, when Spurs went 4-0 down and hauled off stand-in goalkeeper Antonin Kinsky after two disastrous errors.

"After seeing today, there is even more questions about the first game," Tudor said.

"If it didn't happen, what happened, I believe we have a good chance to pass against Atletico Madrid."

The Croat said it was "important" that his players rediscovered the winning feeling, so much so that he was "angry" at them for committing so many numbers forward for a last-minute counter.

Spurs needed two goals to progress at that stage and Tudor was keen for them to instead just secure the result on the night.

"I agree it was important," he said of the win.

"That's why I was angry about the counter attack in the last minute. We go with nine [players in attack], I got a little bit angry there. Because in the last minute at least you wanted to take this [win], but I understand the players wanted to score a goal.

"It was nice in the end to at least take the victory. What you said, it's important also for the morale."

The victory was all the sweeter for Tudor considering the injury hand he had been dealt.

Spurs remain without a whole host of first-team players and had limited options on the bench, even with Destiny Udogie, Lucas Bergvall and Conor Gallagher back in the squad.

"I need to repeat that today we have - again - 11 players and on the bench, just one [fit, senior] player," Tudor said.

"One player is [Kevin] Danso. All three players - Bergvall, Udogie and Conor - the doctors said they can play at maximum 20 minutes, 25 minutes. So I only had Danso as a [senior] substitute. You play with 11 plus Danso in this kind of a game, and I don't count these two young players.

"So imagine the situation, imagine the value of this victory here. The value of this performance is even bigger because of these things."