Crumble? Juvegotto bekidding
CHRISTIAN ERIKSEN reckons the old Spurs would have crumbled after falling two goals behind to Juventus.
And he feels their comeback demonstrates the progress under boss Mauricio Pochettino.
Spurs have a place in the quarter-finals within reach after they snatched a 2-2 draw and a pair of precious away goals from the first leg in Turin on Tuesday.
The outlook was bleak when Argentina international Gonzalo Higuain scored twice for Juventus in the first nine minutes but Spurs dug in, with England striker Harry Kane and an Eriksen free-kick salvaging what felt like a victory at the final whistle.
When Pochettino first arrived at White Hart Lane in 2014, he took over a team that had regularly been thrashed by the big sides, their mental fragility exposed whenever the pressure mounted.
But Danish star Eriksen, who was at his sparkling best at the Allianz Stadium, believes those days are now long gone.
Eriksen said: “Of course we are building on every season compared to when I arrived here four or five years ago now.
“The games against the top teams when you are 2-0 down after nine minutes you tend to lose 6-0. That’s the thing we’ve changed with the manager coming in, with the players here.
“Everyone has grown up and they are not going to lie down if they are 2-0 down anyway.
“Compared to what it was when I came to what it is now, is completely different. That’s up to the manager, up to the players and the quality we have in the squad.”