‘Crazy’ game in Colombia gives Pochettino hope

MAURiCiO POChETTiNO has recalled the day his team-mate had his head split open by a battery, and how he nearly found Jesus with a missed penalty — all to prove to his Tottenham squad that tricky situations can be overcome.

spurs need to recover a 1-0 deficit away to Ajax tomorrow night if they are to reach the Champions League final, and Pochettino drew on a memory from 1992 for optimism.

it relates to the Copa Libertadores semi-final, when his Newell’s Old Boys went to Colombia’s notoriously hostile America de Cali for the second leg after a 1-1 first-leg draw.

‘ it was crazy,’ Pochettino recalled. ‘i remember this game, how no one believed in us. They were the favourites.

‘i remember arriving at the stadium — it was like a jungle that you can’t see because of the stones. Going on to the pitch you went out through a big plastic tunnel to the middle of the pitch. My team-mate received a battery on his head that cut him. We had to wait, go inside and get him stitched before playing a semi-final.’

Pochettino headed Newell’s in front before Cali levelled late on ahead of the longest penalty shootout in the competition’s history.

‘i remember the day before in the Cali stadium,’ he added. ‘We were practising penalties and there was a hill behind the goal with a Christ statue on top.

‘ i said, “Oh, if tomorrow i shoot a penalty…”, and then in the game i put the ball there (over the bar). i think we shot 26 penalties before we won — it was crazy. ’

it troubled Pochettino that his spurs side were so flat early in their first leg and it seems a safe assumption they will be aggressive from the start tomorrow.

he said: ‘That Libertadores game shows it’s possible if you play bravely and with a winning mentality. We all feel disappointed, we didn’t translate the emotion that we were playing in a Champions League semi-final.’