Sigurdsson enjoyed European adventure.
Gylfi Sigurdsson has insisted Tottenham’s Europa League excursions were not to blame for their failure to qualify for the Champions League.
Spurs missed out on fourth in the Premier League by a single point, despite finishing the season with their highest ever tally of 72, a record for a fifth-placed finish.
Boss Andre Villas-Boas made no secret of his desire to win the Europa League this season – an attitude markedly different from his predecessor Harry Redknapp, who treated the competition with disdain – but Spurs lost on penalties in the quarter-finals to FC Basle.
The north London outfit dropped 14 Premier League points in matches directly after the Europa League but Sigurdsson said the 12-match European adventure was enjoyable.
“Up until Basel we were quite good and we thought it might happen. After the Lyon game, when we scored late on. We had a feeling it could be our year but that’s the way it is,” the 23-year-old told the Daily Mirror.
“[The margins] are very small. Obviously if we had won one game which we drew we would have been in the Champions League but that’s life. That’s what happens when you are at the top.
“The margins are small. You just need more consistency, we were very good and then lost a bit of form and that’s what killed us.”
Tottenham will again feature in the Europa League next season and boss Villas-Boas, who won the competition during his unbeaten season with Porto in 2011, is expected to field a strong team in next year’s competition.
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