Spurs no chokers, says Pochettino

LONDON－Mauricio Pochettino said Tottenham Hotspur had nothing to be ashamed of after three minutes of madness ended its Champions League challenge in a painful 2-1 defeat against Juventus at Wembley.

Son Heung-min's first-half opener put Tottenham 3-2 ahead on aggregate, only for Gonzalo Higuain and Paulo Dybala to capitalize on sleepy Spurs defending in a devastating three-minute spell after the break to kill the host's European dream.

The loss raised fresh questions about Spurs' ability to win major trophies under Pochettino. However, the Argentine bristled at suggestions his squad isn't mentally strong enough to win the big matches.

"All this talk is rubbish. At the end it is win or lose. When you assess the game, I think only Tottenham was better for more than 70 minutes," said Pochettino, who has yet to win a trophy at Tottenham.

"If Harry (Kane) scored at the end or we scored twice in the first half, maybe we are talking differently.

"I'm happy with my players. We did everything to try to win.

"It was not a lack of experience, not a lack of concentration. How many chances did we concede?

"We conceded three chances and they scored twice. We had a lot of chances and only scored one.

"We can talk about a lot of situations, but sometimes you need some luck to win."

Pochettino remains convinced Tottenham is on the brink of joining Europe's superpowers.

"I feel very proud, we dominated overall against a very good team like Juventus," he said.

"In the two games we were much better, but at this level the tie went to Juventus in three minutes.

"I'm disappointed of course but the quality of the team was very good. We showed massive maturity.

"I'm still a dreamer. When you compete in the Champions League with these clubs you can win or lose. Football is not a nightmare for me."

AFP