Pochettino: We can be heroes
MAURICIO POCHETTINO has called on his Tottenham players to be heroes as they prepare to face Juventus at Wembley tonight. Spurs came from two goals down to draw 2-2 in Turin and head into tonight’s last-16 second leg as favourites to reach the quarter-finals. ‘The players would be heroes because they will have competed with these big sides and it is difficult to beat them,’ said manager Pochettino. ‘But we have shown in the last few seasons we can be competitive. ‘Now we need to keep going and try to be strong for the rest of the season.’ Spurs goalkeeper Hugo Lloris said last night that the Premier League team are preparing to attack Juventus even though a low-scoring draw would be enough for them to progress. Lloris said: ‘If we start to think too much about playing for a draw, especially against an experienced team like Juventus, we can be in trouble. ‘The best way is to start sharp as we are used to doing at home.’ Juventus boss Massimiliano Allegri ri will aim to keep Lloris ris busy by unleashing strike pair Gonzalo Higuain and Paulo Dybala after they recovered from their injuries. Allegri said: ‘I don’t see any reason why they cannot both play. Although Higuain has been training separately for a while, he’s trained with the team for the last two days. As for Dybala, he recovered well from his first game back against Lazio at thy‘ ‘The fact that this the weekend. He’s a young man, 24. iis such a huge game and such a great game, you want to play in a game like that, even if you’rey not in tip-top shape. I see no reason why theyth cannot play. Douglas Costa could play too.’ There will be a minute’s silence in memory of Fiorentina captain Davide Astori who died suddenly at the age of 31 on Sunday. Pochettino said he thought about signing the player when he was manager of Southampton. ‘I want to send all my condolences to all the people that love him,’ he said. ‘I had the possibility to meet him five years ago because it was my idea to sign him when we were at Southampton. ‘I took three hours to have lunch with him and he was a great kid, great person, great professional, great player. I was devastated to hear the news and we share the pain with all the people in Italy.’