The "White Lily" Tottenham Hotspur will go to the San Mamés Stadium in the 2024/25 UEFA Europa League final to compete with the "Red Devils" Manchester United for the championship. Dutch defender Van der Ven said that he has been turning external doubts and criticisms into motivation, and hopes to bring changes to the team with his teammates.

In the second leg of the Europa League semi-final, Tottenham Hotspur defeated Bodø Brøndby FC 5-1 on aggregate after Solanke and Pedro Porro scored away from home, successfully securing a ticket to the final.

However, Tottenham Hotspur's performance in the Premier League is very unsatisfactory. After 37 rounds of games, they have only achieved 11 wins, 5 draws and 21 losses. They are currently ranked 17th in the standings with 38 points, which is in sharp contrast to their past results.

However, Postecoglou's team is expected to end their 17-year championship drought in the Europa League final, and this is also Tottenham Hotspur's last chance to qualify for the Champions League this season.

When asked about the criticism, the 24-year-old said: "I still use those voices as motivation. When I played in Volendam, some people didn't believe in my ability. Now I am here, I think I have proved them wrong. But to be honest, it is my father, mother and sister who always push me forward.

When talking about the tacit understanding with teammate Romero on the court, Van der Ven shared, "We can feel each other during the game. If he does something, I know how to cover and help him."

"And the other way around, when I have the ball, he knows how to cover me, and he knows how to help in different situations, and that's just something we develop with each other."

“We deserve to be champions”

In addition, Van der Ven said, "Everyone knows that once you join Tottenham Hotspur, others will say 'you will never win the championship in your life', but the players who come here all have the same goal, to bring changes to this club."

"The manager and the team are saying, 'We are here to make a change.' So for us, the task now is to achieve our goals in Bilbao. We all know that we are at a big club, a club that deserves trophies and that's the reality."

Van der Ven also said, "We have supported coach Postecoglou since the first day he took office. He has demonstrated his coaching ability and led us to the finals of European competitions. There are indeed many voices questioning him from the outside world, and we have all seen the comments. But I think he has proved everyone wrong with his results."

"We are now standing on the European final stage and we hope to lift the trophy, not only for us but also for him. Looking at the quality of our squad, we deserve the championship. This season is indeed difficult, but if we can end with a trophy, it will be the perfect ending."