Although Tottenham Hotspur boss Mauricio Pochettino admitted that he was content with a draw against Juventus, he believes his team deserved the win in Turin.
In a rollercoaster affair in the Champions League round of 16, Spurs fought back from conceding two early Gonzalo Higuain goals, survived a missed penalty from the Argentine and rescued a crucial draw thanks to Christian Eriksen’s second half free-kick.
Pochettino paid massive tribute to his players for their display afterwards and insisted that a fair result would have been Spurs leaving Italy with a victory.
“It was a fantastic game. We started too sloppily and we conceded two goals in seven minutes but the character that we then showed was fantastic,” Pochettino told BT Sport afterwards.
“The players deserve great credit because to do that after going 2-0 down in Turin against a team that is so difficult to break down is something important which should be recognised.
“We deserved the victory more than the draw and I must congratulate the players for their effort and character. It was a difficult moment for us early on but the team were amazing in the way that we reacted.”
He pointed to the penalty miss on the stroke of half-time by Higuain, who crashed his effort against the crossbar, as being a pivotal moment in the tie before reiterating his point that his players’ performance was deserving of more.
“You always need some luck in football but we didn’t deserve to go two goals down at that moment and deserved more from the first half,” he added.
“The half-time result was fair but after the break we were much better and the draw is good for us but a little bit unfair in my opinion.”
Despite his side having a slim advantage, Pochettino refused to acknowledge that his side are now favourites and believes that the Old Lady are capable of a victory at Wembley.
“It will be difficult because the tie is open and Juventus are a massive team and are capable of winning here and in London but we hope we can beat them at Wembley,” the ex-Espanyol tactician stated.
“Our fans will be up for it and we hope we can be as strong in the second leg.”
