BIGGEST MATCH OF MY CAREER
Poch fired up for Man City showdown
TOTTENHAM boss Mauricio Pochettino believes tonight’s crunch Champions League clash against Manchester City will be the biggest of his managerial career.
Spurs welcome Pep Guardiola’s side to their new stadium for a Champions League quarter-final first-leg meeting — only the second competitive match at the £ 1billion arena. And Pochettino acknowledged that the encounter, his f irst quarter-final in European football’s premier club competition, will be the most significant of his career so far.
‘Is it the biggest? Yes, as a coach yes. This will be one of the most important games,’ said the Argentine. ‘For us, it’s a bonus to
play in the quarter-finals with all the circumstances. It’s a massive bonus for us, but we’re going to try to beat them. ‘The objective is to be in the semi-final. That will be tough because Manchester City are a very, very good team and, of course, we respect them.’ The prospect of welcoming City — who are gunning for a historic Quadruple — and the fact that the north London club are riding a wave of excitement after finally moving into their new ground last week makes for a mouthwatering night. But facing Guardiola’s irresistible side does not frighten Pochettino. He has a long history with the City boss, back to when the pair were managing fierce Catalan rivals — Pochettino with Espanyol and Guardiola at Barcelona. ‘During four seasons that we met in Spain, we played a lot of games, it was always tough to play against Barcelona,’ said Pochettino. ‘They know and he knows that we’re brave playing football, we like to go forward and be aggressive, to be protagonists. ‘But the most important thing is that we are aggressive.’ Tottenham forward Son Heung-min believes that an electric atmosphere at their new stadium could give his side the edge this evening. City midfielder Kevin de Bruyne had dismissed suggestions that the new stadium would have a decisive bearing on the encounter. ‘I don’t care about the stadium,’ he said. ‘Everybody talks about the stadium like it’s something special. Everybody has a stadium. Everybody has supporters.’ But Son said: ‘Of course it can help, we take these plus points. Maybe City don’t realise because they always play at home, but we’ve nearly had two years away from our home stadium. ‘What we’ve done in the last two years was very positive but we missed home a lot and we can show them tomorrow night the difference between Wembley and our new stadium.’