Over to you, Tottenham. After events at Anfield last night, who would dare to write a script for the other Champions League semi-final decider, as Spurs aim for a miracle of their own at Ajax?
A 1-0 deficit and the continued absence of injured talisman Harry Kane suddenly seem like small obstacles although, unlike Liverpool, Spurs will have to complete a second-leg comeback away from home and on the back of their worst run of results under Mauricio Pochettino.
Winning a first European Cup would make this one of the club’s greatest seasons, probably the greatest, and Pochettino knows it. The manager muddied the bigger picture yesterday by claiming he could walk way from Spurs if they overcome Ajax and win in Madrid on June 1.
“Winning the Champions League? It should be fantastic, no? Close the five-year chapter and go home,” he said. Pushed on whether he was serious, Pochettino added: “It’s not a joke. To win the Champions League with Tottenham, in these circumstances, in this season, maybe I need to think to do something different in the future. Because to repeat this miracle...”
The manager has often talked of staying in north London for decades and building a dynasty to rival that of his idol, Sir Alex Ferguson, but he seems to believe that winning the Champions League, in a season beset by so many problems, could never be topped.
His comments threaten to reopen the issue of his future if Spurs win and added to the sense the club is reaching the end of a cycle, whatever happens here in Amsterdam. Certainly, for members of the squad, the last five years will come down to events at the Johan Cruyff Arena and, potentially, the Wanda Metropolitano next month.
For half a decade since Pochettino’s appointment, Spurs have taken baby steps towards the elite, gradually improving, testing their strength and establishing a winning mentality through soaring highs and crushing lows. These players have altered the perception and perhaps even the DNA of the club but they remain without anything tangible to show for it, and this season’s Champions League will be the last chance for many of them to win silverware at Tottenham. Assuming he stays in charge, Pochettino has vowed to “close a chapter” at the end of the season with a “painful” rebuild and he will sit down with chairman Daniel Levy in the summer to map out the next phase.
It is thought the Spurs manager will encourage Levy to listen to good offers for up to 11 members of his first-team squad, including Toby Alderweireld, Christian Eriksen, Kieran Trippier, Danny Rose and Victor Wanyama, all of whom are expected to start tonight.While Liverpool are preparing for a second consecutive Champions League final, the Spurs squad seem aware that such a chance will never come again, and Hugo Lloris and Moussa Sissoko have urged their team-mates to play “without regrets” this evening.
“We have to give everything,” said Sissoko. “It’s not every season we have the chance to play a semi-final of the Champions League.”
Lloris, the captain, added: “We want to believe in our chance. We want to think about tonight, give our best finish the game on our knees, give the maximum and have no regrets.”
While Liverpool may believe the fates are suddenly aligning for them to avenge last year’s final defeat by Real Madrid, there also seems to be a certain providence about the way Pochettino is demanding one last hurrah from this group.
Whatever happens, the Argentine and players can already be proud of having reached this far and they will begin as underdogs against Erik ten Hag’s formidable young side.
Winning here in Amsterdam would continue a remarkable story for Spurs, who will be without Kane, Harry Winks, Davinson Sanchez and Serge Aurier tonight, and there would be no shame in defeat.
However, lose and there would be a twinge of pain in watching this squad, who have remained more or less constant for so long, reformed in the summer, given the way they have played in the last five years and how close they have come to glory under Pochettino.
The manager, who arrived at White Hart Lane in May 2014 tasked with ensuring that Spurs would start life in the new stadium as a Champions League club, has far exceeded expectations and, without a trophy, the likes of Alderweireld and Trippier would surely look back on their time at Spurs and wonder what could have been.
“I think we are living a dream because, first of all, it was to play Champions League with Tottenham,” Pochettino said.
“Five years ago, when we arrived, first of all it was to reduce the gap with the top four, then the possibility to play Champions League. For us it’s a bonus, for myself it’s a bonus.”
