Son celebrates Kane link-up as Tottenham duo hit another milestone

Son Heung-min’s link-up with fellow Tottenham star Harry Kane is purely a “pay-off for hard work”.

Son scored twice on Wednesday, either side of a Kane penalty, as Spurs ran out 3-2 winners over Eintracht Frankfurt in the Champions League.

Antonio Conte’s side moved to the Group D summit after coming from behind to defeat the Europa League holders at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

Kane set up Son for the equaliser after the hosts fell behind to Daichi Kamada’s early strike, meaning the pair have now combined to score on 50 occasions for Spurs across all competitions.

Kane has teed up 24 goals for Son, who has supplied 26 assists for the England captain. Since the start of last season, Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah, the scorer of a record-setting hat-trick in Liverpool’s win over Rangers elsewhere on Wednesday, is the only Premier League player with more strikes in all competitions (39) than the Spurs pair (Kane has netted 36, with Son scoring 29).

The South Korea captain paid tribute to his fearsome partnership with Kane, telling BT Sport: “We just understand each other really well. I know what he likes to do, and he’s the same.

“The relationship, it’s always hard work and good effort. It’s always been a pay-off for hard work. [There will be] many more [combinations] to come, I hope.”

50 – Harry Kane and Son Heung-min have now assisted one another to score 50 times for Spurs in all competitions:

43 – Premier League
2 – Champions League
2 – FA Cup
1 – Europa League
1 – Conference League
1 – Europa League qualifying

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Son’s second goal was the pick of the bunch as he put Tottenham 3-1 up before the break.

Connecting with Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg’s pinpoint cross, the forward unleashed a thumping volley that would eventually prove decisive after Faride Alidou’s late header ensured a nervy finish for Spurs.

“The ball was just really clear to me and there was only one option; to take the volley,” Son added. “I hit it really clean, I was very happy.

“The last five minutes were really tough. In the Champions League, you never know what will happen. It was uncomfortable sitting on the bench and watching. The most important thing was the three points.”

Meanwhile, head coach Conte said “it would have been a disaster” had Spurs surrendered their lead in the closing stages, with Kane missing a stoppage-time penalty to put them home and dry. The 29-year-old has missed two of his last four penalties in all competitions for Tottenham, having previously scored 21 successive spot-kicks for the club.

“We started in a very difficult way, conceding the first goal,” Conte said. “We scored three goals and had big chances. In the end, we are leading our group.

“Until the end, we had to stay focused. It would have been a disaster if we drew a game like this.”