Holtby hails Tottenham hero Soldado

Lewis Holtby seemed happier for Roberto Soldado's hat-trick than his own strike after Tottenham Hotspur FC's 4-1 win against FC Anji Makhachkala at White Hart Lane completed the best group record in UEFA competition this season.

Both teams were already through, but Spurs' convincing victory left them ten points clear of their Russian visitors in Group K with six perfect wins and a better goal difference than the only other flawless side, FC Salzburg.

The midfielder praised Soldado while goalkeeper and captain on the night Brad Friedel thinks Spurs have a chance of going all the way to Turin for the UEFA Europa League final, saying: "We're going to try and win every game that we play."

Lewis Holtby, Tottenham midfielder
When I scored against [FC Dinamo] Tbilisi, it was my first goal for Tottenham, so I did the Klinsmann dive. Andros Townsend calls me 'Jürgen the German', so I had to do a tribute to him.

I'm happy that I scored a goal, but I'm happy for Robby [Roberto] Soldado especially. I'm so happy that he scored three goals for his confidence and everyone in the team enjoys it when a striker scores three goals.

I thought it went well, I thought the team played well. It's up to others to judge how I played, but ultimately we can be happy as we won 4-1. We hope that we can keep this momentum up and try and score as many goals as possible in the next game.

Brad Friedel, Tottenham goalkeeper
Both teams had already qualified and [Anji] are already on their winter break, but no game of football is ever easy. You have to do it right, but once we got the third goal it was a formality in the end. I hope we can play in the final, but you have to take one game at a time, don't you? We have to wait for the draw on Monday. Hopefully we get a favourable draw and we can progress far in the tournament.

We're going to see who our next opponent is, but we entered [the UEFA Europa League] at the beginning to win it, so we're going to try to win every game that we play. It's a trophy that we're definitely going to try to get."

Étienne Capoue, Tottenham midfielder
I spent the end of my teenage years at Toulouse, so they taught me to grow up and to become a man with all the values of the club, but it was time for a change and I was ready to leave – I think I chose the right moment to do so. But I'll go back to Toulouse to see my friends and family – I won't forget it.

[Tottenham] are a club that plays to win absolutely all the time, to be at the top of the table. Whereas at Toulouse we were fighting to keep up, here we are playing to win every weekend. The atmosphere here, the enthusiasm of the supporters – it's completely different. [A full stadium] just adds to our motivation.

I am the sort of player that whenever I get the ball I want to play it forward. I don't really like playing it back, so I play my whole game looking forward. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't – it's my game. This year is a World Cup year, so I don't think there's such a thing as an easy draw [for the knockout stage].