Son Heung-min has revealed that Tottenham fitness coach Gian Piero Ventrone made him "really comfortable and really grateful" following a chat at the training ground before departing for the Leicester City encounter. Failing to score in his first eight games of the season and struggling to have an impact on matches in the process, Antonio Conte decided to name the 30-year-old on the Spurs bench against the Foxes.
Introduced on the hour mark as Richarlison made way, Son had a huge say on proceedings as he netted an incredible hat-trick in 13 minutes and 21 seconds to seal a 6-2 win. Netting his first with a stunning strike from outside the box, the whole team barring Hugo Lloris sprinted over to share the moment with the attacker.
That wasn't the only touching moment Son had on Saturday evening as he could be seen embracing fitness coach Ventrone on the touchline for a good 20 seconds before he headed back down the tunnel. The Italian may work the Tottenham players extremely hard but he is loved by Son and his teammates
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"Yeah, he is a killer. He is a killer but I have a really, really good relationship with Gian Piero. So obviously his English is not perfect, sometimes he is coming with his phone and translating into English from Italian," explained Tottenham's No.7. "It means a lot. Not as football-wise, I think life-wise he gives me so much advice, which I am really grateful.
"He has been so helpful, giving me always a big hug in tough times and even great times he has always been next to me and every staff. Even today before we left the training ground, the hotel, we had a couple of minutes of having a nice conversation which made me really comfortable and really grateful."
The celebrations for Son's first goal were also incredibly telling. His strike may have sparked pandemonium inside Tottenham Hotspur Stadium but the player himself showed very little emotion as he ran for a couple of yards before coming to a stop.
However, all his teammates went straight over to meet him and their reaction highlighted just how happy they were to see him end his goal drought. It was put to Son after the game if his muted celebration was to do with the passing of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, but he admitted it was just a moment of reflection for him as key people in his life came to mind.
"To the Queen? No I didn't think about her, so I am really sorry," he said. "Coming outside of the UK, but when I heard the Queen news it was really, really sad news. I thought she would be there forever because she was here so long.
"Talking about the celebration, look I couldn't move. It has been emotional for myself and I didn't know what to do. I just stand still, look at the sky, look at the crowd. Just in my head, all the family came to my mind, all the staff, my teammates and all the supporters. That is why I just stood there and had a think."
Finishing last season in incredible form to win the Premier League Golden Boot, it was a huge surprise to everyone to see the player fail to score in his first eight matches. Specific moments do tend to play on a player's mind after a game, with Son making it clear that he is always thinking about his game regardless of the final result or his performances on the pitch.
"Look, I am born loving football, fell in love, still loving football and taking it home thinking about so many things," he said. "I am an attacking player and if I am not scoring, how can I be happy if I had an unbelievable opportunity to score the goal or make the chances. If I don't score and then I am happy, probably I am not here.
"Sometimes I am going home, even if we won the game, I am still sad because of my performance and where I can do better, what I can do better and how do I change the mistake where I missed the chances. I am always thinking about the football because this is how I made it here, this is why I am here. Yeah, I think I still love football even in the tough moments and this is why I am here."
So was his barren run harder to take after finishing last season in style to claim the Premier League Golden Boot?
"No, I mean sometimes you achieve so much things, so many amazing things, of course the people will look at you and (pay) attention more but this is why I am here for, to do better things and to learn something," he added. "Also football-wise, and life-wise, I think I am still young and I want to learn many things in the Premier League.
"Obviously it was a tough moment, a tough first couple of games but look, this is a lesson. This is how I always have been. I am not 18-years-old to be honest, I wish I was 18-years-old but I have experience in professional football teams. I had some bad periods and had some amazing periods.
"Even when I had a good period, I learned so many things and even bad period, I think you know life-wise in the bad period you learn so much good things. That is what I am doing right now. I don't think it was that bad but with these tough moments, I had so much lessons and just had really good people around me to help me, which was really, really important."
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