It’s fair to assume that Mauricio Pochettino is feeling vindicated after expelling his UEFA Champions League demons this season.
[ RECAP: BVB 0-1 Spurs ]
Spurs beat Borussia Dortmund 1-0 at the Westfalenstadion on Tuesday, advancing past the Bundesliga side 4-0 on aggregate to make their first quarterfinal since 2011.
“We are in the quarter-finals,” Pochettino said. “I’m so happy for the players, and the fans. It’s an important victory. Of course we suffered a bit but it’s ok and we fully deserved to be to be in the quarter-final.”
Spurs were under duress for most of the first half, as BVB knew it needed a big win at home having fallen 3-0 at Wembley Stadium.
But Harry Kane broke through in the 48th minute to ease any concerns of anything “Spursy” befalling Pochettino’s men.
“Especially in the first half, it was tough,” Kane said. “It’s always difficult when you have a lead like we did, you don’t know whether to defend or attack. The crowd here was amazing and it was difficult for us. … (The goal) was what we needed. We said at halftime we needed to pick up the tempo a bit more, squeeze up the pitch a bit more. Moussa put a great ball through.”
The star of that first half was goalkeeper Hugo Lloris, who Pochettino called “great,” and the Frenchman collected his 100th clean sheet. He’s aiming big picture, though.
“As expected, they pushed the first 20 minutes, half an hour. We stayed strong together and that’s why we go through. We don’t want to stop. We want to carry on, and enjoy this moment.”
The video of Lloris and Kane speaking after the match is below, and you cannot help but note the goalkeeper marveling at the away support.
