Alan Shearer has claimed that playing both Harry Kane and Harry Winks in the Champions League final represented a “huge risk” from Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochettino.
The duo had both missed lengthy spells prior to the match in Madrid, but were given the nod from the start.
And Shearer has suggested that things could have been different for Spurs had they persisted with semi-final hero Lucas Moura.
Writing in a column for The Sun, he said: “I imagine Harry [Kane] was in Pochettino’s ear all week and he has had a week to judge it based on seeing him in training.
“He may never feature in a European Cup final again so he would have been desperate to play. But you have to judge him on his performance and he simply wasn’t 100 per cent fit.
“Harry Winks was exactly the same — he hadn’t played for over two months yet he was risked to start in such a huge game for the club.
“To play one was a gamble, to play two who haven’t played for that long was a huge risk and it didn’t pay off.
“I’m sure Pochettino will be thinking “If only”. If only he had done something different. Lucas Moura could have offered them an alternative way of playing.”
OPINION
It’s hard to argue with Shearer on this one. There were more than a few raised eyebrows when the teams were announced on Saturday evening, and the only way that Pochettino should have started the two Harrys was if he was convinced they were both fit. As it was, with both missing substantial periods prior to the game, he had no real way of knowing for sure. Being fit and being match fit are two different things, and judging by the way that Kane in particular drifted through the opening exchanges of the game, he was not ready for such a big occasion. To be fair to Pochettino, he could never win. If Spurs play Kane and lose, you get this kind of rhetoric from pundits like Shearer. If they play Lucas and lose, people demand to know why he didn’t gamble on Kane. The only surefire way to have settled things would have been to win the trophy, but in the face of a Liverpool side as good as this one, it was always going to be a tall ask, regardless of who was on the pitch.
