Justin Kluivert says Bournemouth are dreaming of qualifying for the European Championship after a stunning hat-trick in a 4-1 win over Newcastle.
The Dutch striker was the star of an impressive performance at St James’ Park that lifted the Cherries to sixth place in the Premier League.
Andoni Iraola’s men have been surprisingly pressing in the top half for the majority of the season and are currently unbeaten in 11 matches.
But for Kluivert, their form is no surprise and he says European qualification has always been the goal for the Cherry.
What a way to achieve a hat-trick 🤩
Justin Kluivert delivers an exceptional performance with style 💫
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— Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) January 18, 2025
He told TNT Sports: “It’s a nice feeling. We know how hard it is to play here. To come here with so many injuries and dominate like that, hats off to the team.”
“I want to help my team, and be important for the club. Our career was beautiful and we showed that we are here to make a good impression.
“At the beginning of the season, we have a lot of ambitious players in the team, you want to play in Europe and we showed that.
“Why don’t we dream big and never know where we could end up. The Champions League will be very difficult, but who knows?”
Bournemouth deserved to win at St James’ Park, surprising the hosts who had won their previous nine matches in all competitions.
“We’re here to make an impression”
Justin Kluivert talks about Bournemouth’s impressive performance and scoring a hat-trick against Newcastle 🙌
🎙️ @julesbreach
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— Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) January 18, 2025
Antoine Simenho, who also caught the eye, added to his Premier League productions: “It was a crazy performance from us.
“We knew we needed to press properly and if we did that we would get chances, and as you saw from a couple of the goals, we pressed properly and got the three points.
“We knew they had moments where they were going to hold the defense and we wanted to catch the back four. As soon as the goalkeeper passed the ball to the centre-back, that was our motivation and it worked perfectly.
“Justin’s finishing was outstanding. He’s a big player for us. It was a well-deserved hat-trick.”
Their 11-game unbeaten run is impressive considering the plethora of injuries they currently have to deal with, with both Evanilson and Enes Unal recently ruled out for the rest of the season.
“It’s all about mentality,” Semenyu added. Our mentality is very strong, we are mentally strong. We go through all these difficult moments due to injuries but collectively we know that we are capable of doing it and no one can tell us differently.
“We take each game individually and do not put any pressure on ourselves.”