Mauricio Pochettino held Christian Eriksen up as an example to the Tottenham academy players after the Dane's goalscoring return from illness against Manchester United.
Eriksen, who (alongside Hugo Lloris) was absent from Spurs’ draw at Southampton due to a virus, set the tone early on at Wembley by putting the hosts ahead after just 11 seconds.
A Phil Jones own goal doubled Spurs’ lead before the break, and Mauricio Pochettino’s side went on to dominate in the 2-0 win, with Eriksen pulling the strings and giving the United midfield a night to forget.
Tottenham made the perfect start to a run which will now see them face Liverpool, Arsenal and Juventus, and Eriksen will be key to any success enjoyed over the coming weeks.
"When you score after 10 seconds, it's a massive responsibility to manage the game," Pochettino told reporters.
"But most important, we played like it was 0-0, scored again, focussed, concentrated and the team was so good.
"The action that is so important is to see Christian Eriksen - the belief. The run he made is fantastic.
"There's no waiting to see what happen - to decide, anticipate, read the action is so important. That is one to show the academy players on video."
Pochettino added: "I think it was a great performance from Christian.
"Christian is such an important player for us not because today he was great and he scored, but he's a player that links everyone and of course when he's not in the team we always miss him.
"He's a player that you miss on the pitch."
In Pictures | Tottenham vs Manchester United | 31/01/2018
