Mauricio Pochettino hailed his team’s “belief” after Lucas Moura’s dramatic late goal sent Tottenham through to the Champions League knockout stages by earning a 1-1 draw at Barcelona.
Spurs, who had to match Inter Milan’s result against PSV Eindhoven, were heading out of the competition and into the Europa League for the second time in three seasons as they trailed to Ousmane Demebele’s early goal for most of the game and the Italians came from behind to level.
Back passing at an all time low – could the absence of Eric Dier could have been influential in this?
Lateral passing was also kept to a bare minimum – and as importantly the numbers shrink the farther upfield one looks.
Long passes topped by our goalkeeper, Hugo Lloris. Surely not?
Yup!
Progressive passing was solid with Jan Vertonghen, Rose and…Vertonghen leading the line.
Dele Alli had another great game.
Spurs still can’t cross for toffee.
Rose was intensely successful offensively.
Pochettino said qualification to the knockout stages showed “what is possible when you have the belief”.
“I want to congratulate the players. They were fantastic and I’m so happy for our fans here and in London and it’s a massive achievement for the club,” the Argentinian told PA Sport.
