Mauricio Pochettino hails Tottenham comeback after draw in Turin: 'Not many teams come here and dominate Juventus'
Tottenham Hotspur manager Mauricio Pochettino hailed his team’s comeback to end the winning streak of Juventus and take a draw to Wembley in the last-16 of the Champions League.
Gonzalo Higuain scored twice in the first 10 minutes, as Juve threatened to run riot, but Spurs hit back through Harry Kane and Christian Eriksen to avoid defeat in Turin.
Kane’s goal was the first Juve had conceded in their own stadium since November 5 last year and the draw was the first time the Italians had not won in 11 games.
“I feel so proud,” said Pochettino. “We showed great character against a team that played two finals in three years, with amazing experience on the pitch. We are a young team in this competition. To show that performance is to be proud and to congratulate the players because they were fantastic.
“I can only praise the team. The effort was amazing, fantastic. Big congratulations to the players. The performance and the effort was amazing. Two nil down, always you need more energy.
“We have experience, but not like Juventus in this competition. We start, not in a good way. But we showed we are mature enough to compete in the Champions League. We showed great character. The good thing, this is our fourth season and we are always improving in different aspects. This aspect was the last, but it was necessary to try to be competitive and fight for big things.”
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Asked how he felt when his team fell two goals behind so early, Pochettino replied: “My feeling was so bad. You never hope that happens, to concede a goal. Maybe it was offside, but I don’t want to complain. We start a little bit sloppy. We need to be more solid. But for 83 minutes we dominated Juventus and that is a thing to praise. Not many teams come here and dominate Juventus.”
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Tottenham will now go into the second leg at Wembley on March 7 as slight favourites, and Pochettino added: “I am happy because the tie is open. The second leg will be fantastic, the atmosphere will be great and our fans hope to go to the quarter-finals and it is there, only 90 minutes.”
Pochettino’s reputation will have been enhanced even further by Tottenham’s comeback and the Argentine, whose great, great grandfather was born in Turin, suggested he might like to manage Juve one day.
“I feel like home here,” said Pochettino. “I am born in Argentina, but it feels like home. My culture and my habits, I am Argentinian but Italian Argentinian. Today I feel so good. I saw many people and I like a lot to stay here. I enjoy it a lot.”
Ahead of Tuesday night’s game, Pochettino and his players found out that former Tottenham midfielder Ryan Mason had been forced to retire. “For me, Ryan is a player who will always be special,” said Pochettino. “The door is open for me to help him and the club because we love him and Rachel and George and all his family. Don’t worry Ryan, you are going to be a successful person outside the pitch.”
Juventus manager Max Allegri was annoyed at the suggestion his team should have killed the tie after going two goals ahead so early and seeing a second Higuain penalty hit the bar. “We have a draw against Tottenham and it is like a big loss,” said Allegri. “It is not like this. Juventus has never been favourites in this tie. We had 50 per cent possibility before the match and also after this match.”
