LONDON -- Tottenham manager Thomas Frank joked that Micky Van de Ven can keep walking past him after a match if he follows it with a stunning goal like he did in the 4-0 win over Copenhagen on Tuesday.
Van de Ven's remarkable solo effort, in which he dribbled from the edge of his own box to the other where he hammered a low finish past goalkeeper Dominik Kotarski, capped off the scoring in a free-flowing attacking display from Spurs.
The 24-year-old was the subject of plenty of talk heading into the game after he and teammate Djed Spence appeared to ignore Frank and head straight down the tunnel as the manager attempted to get them to join him on a lap of appreciation for the home crowd after Saturday's dispiriting 1-0 defeat to Chelsea in north London.
Frank revealed on Monday that the pair had since come into his office "unprompted" and apologised for the situation.
Asked if he had ever seen a better goal scored by a defender, Frank told his post-match news conference: "I definitely need to think a little bit about that, but it seems like we had Lionel Messi turned into Micky Van de Ven running down from his own goal and all the way to the other end to score a fantastic goal.
"I think he's our top scorer in all competitions so he can keep going. He can keep, by the way, walking past me if he's angry after a game if he delivers like this."
Van de Ven described what he was thinking as he ran more than 70 yards on his way to goal.
"To be honest, I saw a little gap in front of me, so I was like: 'OK I'll start dribbling now and I will see if they can catch up.' And then I saw the space every time more and more and then at one point I felt like, 'I'm through now, I'll go for goal' now," Van de Ven told TNT Sports.
The exciting attacking display meant that Brennan Johnson's second-half red card served as a minor blip on the night.
Johnson was shown a controversial straight red after the follow through of his attempted tackle made contact with Copenhagen left-back Marcos López's right calf.
"I think I understand why it can be given, but I think it's a little bit what I've talked [about] before: that that's still footage of studs on leg is what the ref sees as the first thing -- that's where it looks bad," Frank said.
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"There was no recklessness in this tackle from Brennan. He goes down on a slide tackle, you say: 'why give the opportunities?' But when he goes down there's literally no leg in front of him. So when he slides, then this player stepped down and then it looks bad after that.
"So I think it was a little bit unfortunate and I think it was harsh."
Johnson's red card led to Xavi Simons being replaced by João Palhinha near the hour mark. Simons, who claimed an assist for Johnson's opener, was visibly frustrated by the decision.
After Van de Ven and Spence's apparent snub a few days previously, it was the second sign of discontent by a Spurs player in a matter of days, but Frank sought to downplay the player's reaction.
"Of course everyone wants to play and how can you say, see the opportunity to maybe play a little bit more," Frank said.
"It's just at that point or 2-0 you never not really know. So I thought OK, we do a little bit more defensive so that's why we did it."
Spurs are back in action when they host Manchester United in the Premier League on Saturday.