Mauricio Pochettino has suggested that he could quit as Tottenham’s manager if he steers them to Champions League glory this season.
Spurs are just 90 minutes away from a first ever Champions League final, where they would face Liverpool in Madrid on June 1st, although they do have to first overturn a 1-0 deficit from the first leg against an impressive Ajax side.
Speaking ahead of Wednesday’s second leg, Pochettino was asked how he would feel if he could end his ‘five-year chapter’ at the club by winning the Champions League, and his reply left journalists stunned.
“It should be fantastic, no?” Pochettino said in his pre-match press conference. “Close the five-year chapter and go home.”
The Argentine was asked to clarify his comments, and he was asked if he was joking…
“It’s not a joke. Why?” he replied. “To win the Champions League in this circumstance, in this season – maybe I need to think a little bit to do something different in the future. Because to repeat this miracle, you know … But for sure, I go home. Whatever happens tomorrow, I go home.”
Donny van de Beek’s early goal at Tottenham’s new stadium last week sees the Dutch side as favourites to progress to the final, especially having already dumped Real Madrid and Juventus out of the competition, and Pochettino did admit that his side face a ‘difficult’ task in Amsterdam.
“It’ll be difficult but it’s still open,” Pochettino said. “It’s an exciting moment for us to be in a semi-final.
“We need to enjoy and have more freedom to play and to start the game the way we want to start. The approach was really poor from our side [in the first leg]. We need to feel more freedom to play; we have nothing to lose from the beginning. We know we need to win.”
See also: The ten best Ajax products to have played in the Premier League
