Mauricio Pochettino lifts the lid on Tottenham's historic Champions League win over Manchester City
Mauricio Pochettino has described the emotional turmoil he endured during the final moments of Tottenham Hotspur’s extraordinary Champions League quarter-final victory over Manchester City.
The manager acknowledged he endured the lowest moment of his managerial career when he saw Raheem Sterling place the ball past Hugo Lloris in added time. Sterling’s effort appeared to have finally killed off Tottenham’s resistance and completed a 5-3 victory for Pep Guardiola’s side that would have taken them into the semi-finals.
The intervention of VAR, however, confirmed Sergio Aguero was offside in the build-up to Sterling’s goal, granting Spurs a reprieve and ensuring it will be Pochettino’s team who will meet Ajax Amsterdam in the last four. The manager, though, admitted he had felt nothing but despair moments earlier.
“It was a moment where I threw my jacket, threw my jumper and I went to sit next to Jesus (Perez, his assistant manager),” he said. “It was a few seconds like this (hands on heads). It was so fast. There were a lot of bad feelings and bad ideas.
“It was going to be a massive situation emotionally. We for sure would have been very down. In that moment you start to think ‘Why?’ The action where Christian (Eriksen) played back. I was thinking ‘Why not play forwards?’ I was reviewing the action, the decision, how I was going to face the players, the fans, you ... all these things happened so quickly in my mind. It's amazing. When you are so down and then something you do not expect happens. It's amazing how quick things happen in your mind, different emotions and ideas.”
The celebrations in the visitors’ dressing room at the Etihad Stadium - a clip showing Pochettino throwing water, hitting a whiteboard, dancing and shouting has been doing the rounds on social media - spoke of very different emotions. “It was a big achievement,” 1he said. “We realised there in the dressing room that it was a fantastic achievement for us, for the club. And we were so happy.”
The manager, though, steering Tottenham into the semi-finals is not the biggest achievement of his career. That moment, he insists, came at Espanyol when he steered the club he once played for to safety in La Liga.
“I think that was my best emotional…maybe not sporting achievement because that looks like you win a trophy….but emotionally it was my best achievement,” he said. “And of course now I am so happy but you can put it in the same emotional level if you win the Champions League or you win the Premier League.
“For me it’s going to be maybe the same, a similar achievement, emotional achievement. And then we are going to be in the semi-final. It was fantastic to make history, to arrive for the first time since 1962 (when Spurs reached the last four of the European Cup) in the semi-final again, in a different era of course now. But to be honest was emotional, was the happiness but the achievement to be in La Liga with Espanyol, emotionally it was different.”
Tottenham return to face City on Saturday when they will be attempt to strengthen their challenge for a top four finish and Pochettino placed his side’s triumph this week in perspective insisting it could not be regarded as a turning point for the club in isolation.. “I don’t believe that,” he said.
“It was an amazing to achieve that, but there is still a lot of work to do for the club if we want to be in the level that we dream to be at. But of course in the way that we are it is the way to build your reputation, you build towards being one day at the level that you want.”
