Mauricio Pochettino says he did not know how he was going to be able to address his players when they looked like going out of the Champions League.
Spurs thought their European adventure was over when Raheem Sterling scored deep into injury time of their dramatic quarter-final second leg at the Etihad Stadium, only for the Video Assistant Referee to hand them a reprieve.
Sterling netted to send City 5-4 ahead on aggregate, but VAR showed that Sergio Aguero was offside.
The turnaround in emotions was an unbelievable sight as Tottenham’s players who were on the floor crestfallen were suddenly punching the air, while City, who celebrated as wildly as they did when Aguero won them the Premier League in 2012, were in despair.
But during the minute or so that Spurs were going out, Pochettino said he plummeted to new depths, questioning Christian Eriksen’s decision not to play the ball forward in the build-up to the goal and wondering what he could say to his players. “It was a moment where I threw my jacket, threw my jumper and I went to sit next to Jesus (Perez) and Miguel (D’Agostino) and Toni (Jimenez),” he said. “It was a few seconds like this (hands on head).
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It was so fast. There were a lot of bad feelings and bad ideas. “In that moment, yes of course, it was the lowest moment of my career.
Yes. Massive. It was going to be a massive situation emotionally. We for sure would have been very down. “In that moment you start to think, ‘Why?’. The action where Christian played back.
I was thinking, ‘Why not play forwards?’. “I was reviewing the action, the decision, how I was going to face the players, the fans, you all these things happened so quickly in my mind. “It’s amazing. When you are so down and then something you do not expect happens. It’s amazing how quick things happen in your mind, different emotions and ideas.”
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