Mauricio Pochettino admits there could be tears for a week if Tottenham are crowned Champions League winners in Madrid on Saturday.
The Spurs boss was an emotional wreck following his side’s astonishing comeback in the second leg of their semi-final against Ajax.
He sobbed on the pitch as he and his players celebrated after the game, and then broke down again as he gave his post-match interviews.
It came as a surprise to many that this former hardman defender, who grew up on a farm in Murphy, Argentina, could show such emotion.
But it was no surprise to those close to the Tottenham coach.
Pochettino said: “My mother says to me, ‘You are a ‘llorona’, which means blubberer, a person who cries often and a lot.
“My mum always says, ‘He’s happy, he cries. He’s sad, he cries. Come on — just stop crying!’.
“Sometimes it happens that I am taking my car to my house – it’s 20 minutes from the training ground to Barnet – and listening to some music and that translates to some moment in my life.
“I start to cry, and when I arrive home my wife says, ‘What happened?’.
“I say, ‘Some music reminded me of a moment 30 years ago in Argentina’, and she will say, ‘You are crazy’.
“Films? Yes, I cry. Everything. If we win the Champions League, I don’t know, maybe I’m going to cry for one week.”
He added: “There were two different feelings mixed in the same moment after the semi-final.
“Reaching the Champions League final is the end of an amazing chapter for the club.
“But, at the same time, the moment that you reach the final, it’s like, ‘I want to be involved in the next chapter of the club’.
“Both feelings are with you.
“Managers are people who always need to be ahead and anticipate problems. You always put yourself in five years’ time, 10 years’ time, or tomorrow.
“We need to be ahead of the players, ahead of the fans.
“Our responsibility is to create a project again, to engage everything... and try to achieve something important for the club.
“The fanbase we have deserves that.”
This week Pochettino will draw on his experience from the epic Copa Libertadores tournament in 1992.
His Newell’s Old Boys team won their semi-final match 11-10 on penalties, but after the huge effort of getting there they suffered final heartache at the hands of Sao Paulo.
Pochettino added: “What I learned is that the emotional level you arrive with is going to be decisive.
“It’s not tactics, it’s not physical, it’s about how the emotion triggers your talent, quality and how you are going to deliver on the pitch.”
