Mauricio Pochettino saw a team-mate hit with a battery before winning a highly-charged penalty shoot-out when he played in the second leg of a cup semi-final.
And that is why the Argentinean has insisted anything can happen when his Tottenham underdogs seek an against-the-odds triumph at Ajax in the Champions League on Wednesday.
“No one believed in us — they were the favourites,” said the Spurs boss. “It was crazy, but it’s possible if you play bravely and play with a winning mentality.”
There is unlikely to be the same intimidating atmosphere in the Johan Cruyff ArenA as when Pochettino’s Newell’s Old Boys — coached by now-Leeds boss Marcelo Bielsa — travelled from Argentina to Colombian side America de Cali in 1992 after the first leg of their Copa Libertadores semi-final had finished 1-1.
“I will always remember that night. It was amazing,” the former defender recalled. “The pressure touched you. Here [in Europe], you feel it. There, it touches you.
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“I remember arriving at the stadium was unbelievable because it was like a jungle, where you cannot see the threat, with stones thrown at us.
“Then, walking out onto the pitch, there was a big plastic tunnel that went nearly to the middle of the pitch. My team-mate Eduardo Berizzo received a battery on his head and cut him. We had to wait, go inside and get him stitched before playing a semi-final. That was before the start.”
A then long-haired Pochettino headed an early goal before the second leg also finished 1-1 and went to penalties.
Newell's eventually triumphed 11-10 in the longest shoot-out in Copa Libertadores history — although the future Spurs manager missed his spot-kick!
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Like he's backing a comeback for Tottenham on Wednesday, Pochettino had also predicted that.
“I remember the day before, the training session in the Cali stadium,” he laughed. “We were practicing penalties and I remember there was a mountain behind the ground, with a Christ [statue] on top. It was dark. And I said, ‘If tomorrow I will shoot a penalty, it will go there’. And the game went to penalties and I put the ball there!
“Unbelievable. It was in the same goal that it happened!
“But of course, before that, I scored the goal with a header. In the last minute, they equalised and then there was extra time and then we went to penalties. I think we shot 26 penalties – it was the longest shoot-out in Libertadores history.
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“I remember this semi-final because we were so brave. Actually, we didn’t play so bravely, because we scored early and then we parked the bus. And we tried to play counter-attack. Yes, it’s true, we defended all the time. But it was an amazing game.”
Pochettino now wants another famous victory, after losing the first leg against Ajax 1-0 at home — and to see the same spirit Newell's showed that night 27 years ago from his own side.
“Now the fans, mostly the players – we feel all disappointed because we didn’t start the first game, playing a semi-final of the Champions League,” he said. “We didn’t translate the emotion or the image that we were playing in a Champions League semi-final. That is why we feel very, very disappointed after the first leg.
“We cannot be waiting and conceding a goal and then start competing after that.”
