Pochettino Calls His Players

By Joshua Walters

Tottenham Hotspurs manager, Mauricio Pochettino, has described his players as ‘superheroes’ after they produced a heroic comeback in the Champions League by eliminating Ajax to reach the final.

The London-based club appeared dead and buried at half-time of their semi-final second leg with a 3-0 deficit on aggregate, but pulled another Champions League miracle to set up an all-English final against Liverpool on June 1. 

Lucas Moura completed a second-half hat-trick to cancel out Matthijs de Ligt and Hakim Ziyech’s first-half goals for his side to reach the Champions League decider.

Pochettino was emotional after the game, and the Argentine who hinted he could leave Tottenham should they win the Champions League in the build-up, has labelled his players as ‘superheroes’ for their incredible comeback.

“It’s difficult with words to describe my feelings and my emotions,” the former Espanyol manager said after the game.

“The most important thing I want to say is to congratulate my players. They own the football, they delivered a great job.

“For me, they are heroes. I’ve told you the last six months, I repeat this sentence.

“I think they are superheroes now. To get the club to the final of the Champions League I think is very close to a miracle.

“I think it’s one of the most important nights in my life. How the game finished, everything that happened, the first half, how we planned to play, how the plan was down after three minutes when we conceded the goal, and I think everything was amazing.

“No one believed in us from the beginning of the season. We are so close to the top four and have the opportunity in Madrid to play the final against Liverpool.

“It is an amazing season in our new home. This chapter that we’re going to close now, until June 1, it can be amazing to close the chapter playing a final. In case we won it should be an amazing book.”