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Mauricio Pochettino believes Tottenham Hotspur are “the best club in the world” following their Champions League win over Real Madrid.
Spurs sit in third in the Premier League behind both Manchester United and Manchester City but have qualified for the last 16 of the Champions League after the win at Wembley.
The former Espanyol manager has been linked with a return to La Liga, with both Real and Barcelona touted as likely destinations should he leave Spurs.
Show all 10 1 /10Tottenham's top 10 wins under Mauricio Pochettino Tottenham's top 10 wins under Mauricio Pochettino 10. Tottenham 3-2 West Ham United, 19 November 2016 Not the greatest performance of the Pochettino era – nowhere near – but two Harry Kane goals in the last two minutes turned a 2-1 defeat into a 3-2 win against their hated rivals. That was exciting enough itself but it also sparked up their 2016-17 season, launching the 18-game home winning streak that took them all the way through to the end of last season.
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Tottenham's top 10 wins under Mauricio Pochettino 9. Tottenham 4-1 Manchester City, 26 September 2015 One of those game when Spurs turn it on and the opposition simply cannot live with them. Manuel Pellegrini’s Manchester City took a first half lead through Kevin de Bruyne but in the second half Spurs took them apart with the energy and power that characterises them at their very best. City, the strongest team on paper in the country, looked flat, tired and old.
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Tottenham's top 10 wins under Mauricio Pochettino 8. Tottenham 2-0 Arsenal, 30 April 2017 The only disappointment about the last ever derby at White Hart Lane was how routine Spurs’ win was. Arsenal did not put up much of a fight and two goals in three second half minutes from Dele Alli and Harry Kane were enough to wrap up a win that in other circumstances would have been routine, but here was immensely important, meaning Spurs finished ahead of Arsenal for the first time since 1995.
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Tottenham's top 10 wins under Mauricio Pochettino 7. Tottenham 3-1 Real Madrid, 1 November 2017 Spurs had earned pride and respect when they went to Real Madrid and got a creditable 1-1 draw in October. Kane had even missed a good chance to win it 2-1. But when Real Madrid came to Wembley Spurs were far more ruthless, comfortably and deservedly winning 3-1 against a disaffected Real side who did not look very keen on stopping them. Not the best performance of the Pochettino era, but certainly the biggest scalp.
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Tottenham's top 10 wins under Mauricio Pochettino 6. Tottenham 3-0 Manchester United, 10 April 2016 The 2016 Premier League title was almost out of their grasp by this point, but Spurs showed they were still fighting as they blew away Louis van Gaal’s Manchester United with three goals inside six minutes in the second half. After years of an inferiority complex when it came to United, it said everything about how Pochettino had transformed the mentality at Spurs.
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Tottenham's top 10 wins under Mauricio Pochettino 5. Tottenham 5-3 Chelsea, 1 January 2015 The game that started it all off. Jose Mourinho’s Chelsea came to White Hart Lane, on their way to winning the 2014-15 title, but they were taken apart by the speed and ferocity of Pochettino’s Spurs. Harry Kane scored two, of course, but there were also important contributions from Andros Townsend and Nacer Chadli too. Ryan Mason and Nabil Bentaleb started in midfield. Even in this early iteration, Pochettino’s Spurs were on the map.
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Tottenham's top 10 wins under Mauricio Pochettino 4. Tottenham 2-1 Manchester United, 14 May 2017 The perfect send-off to White Hart Lane, as Spurs beat Jose Mourinho’s Manchester United 2-1, completing a remarkable unbeaten home season and an 18-game winning streak at their old ground. The win itself was fairly routine against an ordinary Manchester United side but that showed how far Spurs have come, and it set up memorable celebrations afterwards.
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Tottenham's top 10 wins under Mauricio Pochettino 3. Manchester City 1-2 Tottenham, 14 February 2016 The only away game on this list, and still the greatest away win under Pochettino to date. Spurs went to the Etihad Stadium and won 2-1, Christian Eriksen stabbing in from Erik Lamela’s pass with just seven minutes left. It was the type of win people thought Spurs could not get and was probably the high-point of their 2015-16 title challenge, inspiring a belief in players and fans that unfortunately could not quite be delivered upon.
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Tottenham's top 10 wins under Mauricio Pochettino 2. Tottenham 2-0 Chelsea, 4 January 2017 Chelsea came to White Hart Lane this January having won 13 straight Premier League games, and needing just one more to break the record. But they ran into a Spurs team on top of their own game, who had a plan to stop them. Dele Alli scored the same goal twice, heading in from a Christian Eriksen cross, and then Tottenham saw out the win with remarkable ease. They did not stop Chelsea from winning the title in the end, but they did deny them the record.
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Tottenham's top 10 wins under Mauricio Pochettino 1. Tottenham 2-1 Arsenal, 7 February 2015 The most memorable north London derby under Pochettino, as Spurs fell behind to Arsenal in the first half but then overwhelmed them with their power in the second. Harry Kane scored twice, back when his brilliant form was still a surprise, winning the game with a towering far-post header with four minutes left. Beating Arsenal has become more routine since, but there was still a buzz about this game.
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However, Pochettino, who signed a new deal to stay at Tottenham until 2021 in May of this year, says he would not consider another job, even if the two Spanish giants came calling.
“For me, the most important club in the world is Tottenham and for me, it is the best club in the world,” said Pochettino.
“I need to feel like this. That emotion is real because I cannot be fake it. I cannot translate that emotion to the players, I cannot translate that emotion to my chairman, to create the trust if you don't really believe. Today, for me, Tottenham is in my head 100 per cent.
“Today I do not change Tottenham for another position in the world because I am so involved, I am so focused, and because I think the club deserves to have people that think only about the club, the fans, the players and the structures that provide us with an unbelievable life.
“It is an amazing club, everything is amazing and it's so important for us to pay back, no? To pay back the club in the same way that the club treats us.”
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