MUKIELE POST SPURS

Nordi Mukiele spoke after scoring the winning goal against Tottenham Hotspur.

PLEASING AFTERNOON

“A very good afternoon for me, for the team as well, for the fans, for everyone who works for Sunderland. It was a great day for us. I think, and I’m sure, that we deserved to win today because we really fought for each other, we had a good energy. The fight, as always, was good. In the end we think the three points are very important for us and that we have to keep going like this.”

GOALSCORER

“Sometimes when you play, you have to play with personality, and you have to try, and that’s exactly what I did. I just shot and I thought, ‘If it’s going on target, that’s good.’ Thank god that someone touched it and it went inside. I’m very happy, I think this is what I always say to the guys, sometimes we have to shoot. We don’t know what’s going on, if someone will touch it or not, but we have to try. That’s what I did and maybe I'm lucky. I would say that it was a good choice to shoot and I got the luck. I’m very happy because I brought the three points for us.”

BEING INJURED

“This period was difficult for me because I was in a good moment. I know you can’t know when you’ll get injured but I was very sad to miss all of those weeks. I was sad for one day and I thought, ‘I just have to work and come back stronger’, and this is what I say when I get injured. I say, ‘I’ll be back stronger’, and that’s exactly what I’ve done for these seven weeks. I worked hard and I think today was a gift. I worked very well and, after I came back, I scored. It’s a good story. I’m very happy, I think I had fire in my legs, even when I was tired I wanted to keep going and not stop because I missed it. Today, I played maybe 80 minutes and I’m really happy to be back and I feel really good. That is the most important thing.”

MOMENTUM

“Now, our first target is done, we’ve made it. We can say for sure. We have a new target, we have six games left and we just have to take it game by game and try to see where we can go. I don’t want to put pressure on us, I think we have to stay humble because it’s very good what we’ve done and what we’ve done now. I’m a football player, I love to play and I love competition. I will always put my target high, so now we can try to reach it. It’s not going to be easy but we have a great team full of energy and I hope we try to touch the stars. You just have to work and I’m waiting for the game next week.”

THE ATMOSPHERE

“Exactly, I’ve missed it all this time, this energy, everything around, I missed it a lot. I just tried to take it with me, the team did as well. It’s very good. Like I’ve said, I really love football and, from the first minute I was on the pitch, I was really excited, like a kid. Everyone brings this energy and, when we do this, we are amazing, like today. I’m really happy for everyone.”