Mauricio Pochettino has urged his Tottenham players to fight like Lionel Messi against Ajax next week to have any chance of facing his fellow Argentine in the Champions League final.
The Spurs boss called the Barcelona star “one of the Gods of football” after his destruction of Liverpool in the other semi-final.
Messi scored twice, taking his Barcelona total to 600, in another ridiculous display on Wednesday, helping Barca to an emphatic 3-0 win in the first leg.
But Pochettino was just as impressed with the work-rate and pressing of the world's best player.
“What can I say about Messi more than I have or others have said?” Pochettino said. “He's one of the Gods of football. It's unbelievable the desire and the capacity to fight with the ball at his feet and without the ball at his feet.
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“Of course we could face him in the final, but if we play like him for sure we are going to have a chance. But not like him doing what he does with the ball, but like him without the ball.
"If we play like him without the ball, show the desire that he had yesterday, for sure we are going to have the chances to qualify for the final.
“If not, no chance. If we play like we played the first 20 minutes it's difficult to have a chance because Ajax weren't better than us. In the moment they showed more desire than us, they were better. That is the key point, that is so important.
“To play at Bournemouth on Saturday we need to show the same desire, if not, impossible to win. Wednesday will be the same.
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“That is a key point and it is so painful, in the other semi-final when you see Messi's desire and motivation and say, 'Why weren't we motivated in the same way?'.”
Pochettino, who played in Messi's first professional game when he was at Espanyol, added: “I am so grateful to have the possibility to watch him every time I can. It's a massive example.
“Today if I have 21, 22, 23, 17, 18, 14 (year olds) he must be my example. Not what happens when he has the ball, but when he doesn't have the ball he has unbelievable character, how he works for the team.
“We are talking about Lionel Messi, who has won everything, that is a massive example. That is why it is so painful to start the game like we started the semi-final against Ajax.”
