Pochettino: Beating Real Madrid puts Spurs among Europe’s best

Mauricio Pochettino challenged his Tottenham Hotspur players to take the club to “the next level” and start winning trophies on the back of their victory against Real Madrid and a result that seals their qualification to the Champions League knockout stages with two matches to spare.
Pochettino described it as one of the more satisfying results of his time at Spurs but he also warned his players the only way to be recognised as a great team would be to prove they could actually win the bigger competitions.
“This sort of win brings with it certain consequences in terms of making us more visible,” he said. “It’s something everyone around Europe will have seen. You’ve seen today that Tottenham is a big team, playing at Wembley in front of more than 80,000 people. We now belong not only among the best teams in England but in Europe, and results like this will show people where we are going.
“What’s important for me is that we are in the next round. We’re starting to believe in our potential and our qualities. We’re now able to compete with the biggest teams on a physical and mental level. Our goals are to win the big competitions. Whether we get there this year or not, we’re certainly moving in the right direction.
“We need to understand that we are at a level where we are playing fantastic against the best teams, and to get to the next level we have to win things. Right now, we’re very proud. But this means nothing if at the end of the season we haven’t won a trophy.”
The 3-1 defeat left Zinedine Zidane facing tough questions at a time when his side are eight points behind Barcelona in La Liga. However, the Madrid manager said he was “not worried” by how his team had played and said it would be fairer to praise Spurs.
“The feeling in the dressing room is not good,” he said. “In all aspects of play, they [Spurs] were superior. Any team can win the Champions League and Tottenham are certainly one of them.”

SOURCE : GUARDIAN SPORTS
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