I’ve never been so excited, admits boss Clement
PAUL Clement admits his excitement levels at Swansea City’s lastgasp winner over Burnley had only previously been matched in a Champions League final.
When Fernando Llorente rose to head home Tom Carroll’s cross and seal a dramatic 3-2 win, the Swansea head coach took off down the touchline at a rate of knots, punching the air in celebration and ending up by the corner flag.
It was reminiscent of Brendan Rodgers’ canter down the sideline following Darren Pratley’s longrange winner against Nottingham Forest in the 2011 play-off semifinals.
The celebrations capped a superb Swansea fightback after an incorrectly-awarded penalty and a defensive lapse allowed Andre Gray to put Burnley 2-1 up against the run of play.
And Clement revealed the last time he had celebrated a goal in such a fashion had been when Sergio Ramos’ stoppage-time header had helped Real Madrid send the 2014 Champions League final against Atletico Madrid to extra time. Real went on to win 4-2 and claim ‘La Decima’.
When asked if he could ever remember marking a goal in such a fashion, Clement said: “No, not really.
“Even when I won the Champions League with Real Madrid I don’t think I did that, although I did go down the touchline when we scored in the 93rd minute to make it 1-1 and take it to extra-time.
“I shouldn’t have done it really, but it was an exciting moment. It was a great feeling.
“Fernando will get a lot of credit and I am not sure another striker is going to get on the end of those crosses.
“The height of the crosses in, and he is also incredibly accurate, he is able to steer the ball into the corner.”
Swansea now lie five points clear of the relegation zone ahead of Saturday’s trip to face Hull City at the KCOM Stadium.
When Clement was appointed, Swansea were four points adrift of safety, but the considerable impact he and his staff have made, and the manner in which the players have bought in to their methods, mean Swans fans can dare to think that survival is within reach.
But the 45-year-old insists the job is far from done, and branded the game against the Tigers as a “sixpointer” after Marco Silva’s men were downed by fellow strugglers Leicester.
“In this game, after the penalty decision and then them scoring from a rare attack to leave us 2-1 down, we could have felt sorry for ourselves but there was not a bit of it, we used it as motivation to get back and get the right result, and we did that,” he said.
“We have a gap, but there is a long way to go yet.
“There are 11 games, 33 points and some very hard games among them, especially away from home because the game at Hull next week is a six-pointer.
“We lost there in the FA Cup in my first game, they have lost this weekend so it will be massive for both of us and they will know how important it is having lost to a relegation rival in Leicester.”