Mauricio Pochettino’s half-time speech was the turning factor for Tottenham Hotspur’s historic Champions League night on Wednesday, as revealed by hat-trick hero, Lucas Moura.
Spurs started the game poorly, going down 2-0 in the first half and pushing the aggregate to 3-0 after the first leg home defeat. Their Argentine boss, who looked concerned on the sidelines went into the dressing room with only one objective – to raise the players’ spirits.
In the next 45 minutes, Lucas scored 3 goals, one in the last minute of injury time to put Tottenham through to the final, based on away goals.
“In the changing room, the gaffer said we need to score one goal,” Moura told Spurs TV. “If we score one goal we are in the game and when I scored the first, it gave us a lot of motivation to keep working and to keep fighting.
“After the second one, that’s football, everything is possible and we needed to believe. I always say that we need to believe and I believed. If we play like this, everything is possible.”
Pochettino was overcome by emotion after the match, with tears trickling down his face, the 47-year-old could only materialize a few words to the press.
“It’s still difficult to talk, the emotion is amazing,” he said on BT Sport. “Thank you football, thank you these guys, these players are my heroes.
“I told you in the last year, I told everyone that we have a group of players who are heroes. They showed today. The second half was amazing. Thank you. Thank you football. Thank you to our fans. Thank you to the people who believed and helped us achieve this amazing moment. It’s difficult to describe.”
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