Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochettino feels several Borussia Dortmund stars will fit in to Barcelona or Real Madrid, and also pointed out that the experience of
playing the men in yellow and black is more important than the result of
Thursday's match.
The North London outfit to face Dortmund in the Europa League last-16
first leg at Westfalenstadion, The club formerly coached by Jurgen Klopp and now presided over by Thomas Tuchel's have lost
just once all season and scored a whooping 61 goals in all
competitions.
The former Southampton Pochettino
believes Dortmund are among the best sides on the continent and says a
number of their players are good enough to play for Spanish giants Real
and Barca.
"Borussia Dortmund have very good players, a very good
team, a great coach -- Thomas is fantastic, he's shown that from
beginning of the season," Pochettino told a news conference on
Wednesday.
"I like the way they play. It's a good challenge for us
tomorrow. We're playing one of the best teams in Europe. The names that
they have -- [Pierre-Emerick] Aubameyang, [Henrikh] Mkhitaryan, [Marco]
Reus, [Ilkay] Gundogen, [Mats] Hummels -- they're international
players, big players who could stay here in Dortmund or play for Real
Madrid or Barcelona."
"We're excited to play in
an unbelievable stadium, with a great atmosphere. All is positive. I
don't want to speak about the result because always we play to try to
win. But there's a lot of positive things for us to take from tomorrow
and I'm excited."
Eric Dier has been one of Tottenham's most
important players this season, missing just one match when available.
But Pochettino has left the England midfielder in London, along with the
suspended Dele Alli and Danny Rose, who has a knock.
With second-placed Spurs five points shy of league leaders Leicester
with nine matches to play and eyeing a first league title since 1961,
the Europa League could be viewed as an unwanted distraction.
But Pochettino insists Europe remains a priority, while admitting the need to rotate his squad.
"We always try to take the best decision and pick the best players for different games," Pochettino said.
"Tomorrow,
we have a very tough game. The Europa League and Premier League are our
priorities now -- we have two competitions. Sometimes you need to
refresh the team, you need to rotate. It's difficult to play every game
with the same team.
"From the beginning of the season, I told you
it's important to have a big squad, with all the players feeling they're
important. The starting eleven tomorrow is the best I can pick to win
the game."
Spurs go into the match on the back of a disappointing
week, after losing at West Ham and letting a 2-1 lead slip against
10-man rivals Arsenal on Saturday.
Pochettino believes the
disappointed reaction to the 2-2 draw with their neighbours shows how
far Spurs have come, adding: "It's a good thing to be disappointed after
the game against Arsenal. It puts us at a different level. A few years
ago, we'd have been happy with a draw.
"Now when you only draw
with Arsenal, to feel disappointed is a very good thing. We start to
change the mentality of the club and the outside too.
"It was a
game we should win but we showed we can compete at this level. They
always compete in Champions League and invest a lot more money than us.
The players are OK they are excited to play tomorrow and against Aston
Villa. They have motivation to play.
"We're in a key moment now,
it's a decisive last few months but we arrive in a very good condition
but learn always about the players, the mentality, about the different
conditions, how we compete when we are tired and play after 41, 42
official games. There's always an improvement daily. I'm very happy with
the way we are now and the projection for the future."
Pochettino's Tottenham have earned comparisons to Dortmund for their high-energy pressing game and success on a limited budget.
The
Argentine said: "It's difficult to compare with them. We're in a
different country, different circumstances, all is different."
Pochettino was pleased the Premier League had voted unanimously to cap away ticket prices at £30,
saying: "It's fantastic news -- I'm happy. It's very important for our
supporters and all supporters in England. It's very, very, very good
news."
Thursday, 10 March 2016
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