Mauricio Pochettino has strangely claimed that APOEL Nicosia have the potential to finish above them in their Champions League group.
Spurs’ Cypriot rivals are the lowest ranked team in a Group H which also contains holders Real Madrid and the London club’s Wednesday night opponents Borussia Dortmund.
It is expected to be a very hard group for Tottenham and Pochettino has suggested that Madrid are most likely to finish on top, but he has outlandishly claimed that APOEL are within a shot of beating his side and Dortmund to the runners-up spot.
“It’s true in theory it’s Real first and then Tottenham, Dortmund and APOEL compete to be second. But football is not theory,” said the Argentine manager, as quoted by Yahoo Sport journalist Ben Pearce on his personal Twitter account on Tuesday afternoon.
#thfc Pochettino: "It's true in theory it's Real 1st and then Tottenham, Dortmund and Apoel compete to be 2nd. But football is not theory."
— Ben Pearce (@BenPearceSpurs) September 12, 2017
APOEL haven’t even reached the group stages of the Champions League in the last two seasons having dropped out at the play-offs on both occasions and are nowhere near the quality that Spurs or any of their other Group H rivals boast ahead of Wednesday’s opening round of fixtures.
OPINION
There’s no way that Pochettino can seriously think that APOEL have a chance of upsetting his side in the group stages this season. Spurs’ home form at Wembley is bad, but it isn’t that bad. The Cypriot giants would have to get results against Dortmund as well if they wanted to come anywhere near second place and that just seems outrageous. Tottenham’s best hope in their tough group is definitely second place. Dortmund have a lot of injuries and are definitely beatable. Four points against them and a further six against APOEL should be enough see the Londoners into the knock out rounds.