Justin Kluivert says Bournemouth are dreaming of European qualification after his stunning hat-trick in a 4-1 win at Newcastle.
The Dutch forward was the star of what was a brilliant performance at St James’ Park which lifted the Cherries to the heady heights of sixth in the Premier League.
Andoni Iraola’s men have been surprisingly pushing in the top half for the majority of the season and are currently unbeaten in 11 games.
But for Kluivert, their form is no surprise and says European qualification was always the aim for the Cherries.
What a way to bag the hat-trick 🤩
Justin Kluivert tops off an exceptional performance in style 💫
📺 @tntsports & @discoveryplusUK pic.twitter.com/r1vKLOICse
— Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) January 18, 2025
He told TNT Sports: “This feels lovely. We know how tough it is to play here. To come here with a lot of injuries and dominate like this – hats off to the team.
“I want to help my team out, and be important for the club. Our run is beautiful and we showed we are here to make an impression.
“At the start of the season, we have a lot of ambitious players in the team, you want to play Europe and we show that.
“Why not dream big and we never know where we can end up. The Champions League would be very tough but who knows?”
Bournemouth were deserved winners at St James’ Park, stunning the hosts who had won their previous nine games in all competitions.
“We’re here to make an impression”
Justin Kluivert talks Bournemouth’s impressive form and scoring a hat-trick against Newcastle 🙌
🎙️ @julesbreach
📺 @tntsports & @discoveryplusUK pic.twitter.com/8zlNe5s3Kq
— Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) January 18, 2025
Antoine Semenyo, who also caught the eye, added to Premier Legaue productions: “It was a crazy performance from us.
“We just knew we needed to get the press right and if we did we’d get opportunities and as you saw from a couple of the goals we got the press right and got the three points.
“We knew they had moments when they’d keep it at the back and we wanted to catch out the back four. As soon as the goalkeeper passed to the centre back that was our trigger to go and it worked out perfectly.
“Justin’s finishes were special. He’s a top player for us. It was a well-deserved hat-trick.”
Their 11-game unbeaten run is all the more impressive considering the large number of injuries they are currently having to deal with, with both Evanilson and Enes Unal recently ruled out for the rest of the season.
Semenyo added: “It is all mindset. Our mindset is just so strong, we are mentally tough. we go through all these tough moments with injuries but we know collectively we can do it and nobody can tell us differently.
“We are taking it game by game and not putting any pressure on ourselves.”
