Tottenham boss Mauricio Pochettino has said that it “would be a massive mistake” for his players to count on previous meetings between themselves and Liverpool during the Champions League final.
Jurgen Klopp’s side claimed 2-1 victories in both Premier League meetings between the clubs this season, with Toby Alderweiereld’s last-minute own goal at Anfield the key highlight from either game.
Speaking to reporters at a press conference, Pochettino said that the Madrid showpiece will be played under “different circumstances” to the league meetings, and so urged his players to forget about the two previous results.
“It is going to be a completely different game,” the Argentine said, as quoted by Football.London. “We cannot prepare for the Champions League final looking back at months ago.
“It’s a situation in a competition where we’ve never faced each other before. We’ve prepared ourselves to be ready.
“We know each other very well but we haven’t prepared thinking about the games at Wembley or Anfield. That would be a massive mistake in these different circumstances.”
OPINION
Pochettino is exactly right. To think about the previous meetings between these two sides and use that as a basis for Saturday’s game would be a huge mistake. The fact is, Spurs have been a different beast in Europe this season. The North London club may have lost 13 Premier League games, but in the Champions League they have been simply immense, getting past Borussia Dortmund in clinical fashion before pulling off remarkable victories against Manchester City and Ajax in more unbelievable fashion. It is almost like we have seen two Spurs teams this year, which is another key reason why Pochettino’s comments are true. The players should not focus on being the team that were beaten by Liverpool twice, but the one that romped past Dortmund and pulled off that historic comeback in Amsterdam. While Liverpool are the favourites going into the tie, there is no doubt that if Spurs can prepare well and focus on the positives – as Pochettino has pointed out – they can definitely cause serious problems to Klopp’s team.