POCHETTINO WAS A RED...

BUT ONLY FOR A DAY

MAURICIO POCHETTINO admits he was “shouting, celebrating” when Ole Gunnar Solskjaer scored his dramatic Champions League winner for Manchester United in 1999.

But the Spurs boss – the top target to replace Jose Mourinho at Old Trafford – was quick to deny he is a secret United fan. Pochettino

FROM BACK PAGE and Solskjaer go head-to-head tomorrow at Wembley in what could be a glorified job interview between the favourites for the Old Trafford job on a permanent basis.

The Argentinian revealed he and then Espanyol team-mate and Tottenham’s current goalkeeping coach Toni Jimenez (with Pochettino, below) went to the Nou Camp for United’s Champions League final clash with Bayern Munich. Pochettino said: “I was there with Toni watching a fantastic game as a neutral.

“But how I shouted for the Manchester United goal was incredible.

“It was 90 minutes when Teddy Sheringham scored, when Peter Schmeichel went up to the penalty box. And we said, ‘Wow, amazing game, now injury time’. “And then, when Solskjaer scored, we were shouting, celebrating, I don’t know why, because in that moment we were neutral. But the atmosphere was amazing. And now it is a coincidence that we are meeting 20 years later.” He doesn’t expect the Norweigan to have added motivation against him tomorrow. He said: “You cannot be focused on rumours, we have to do our job in the best way. “For him it is a massive motivation to manage Manchester United, in the same way it is massive for me to manage Tottenham.”