Tottenham Hotspur’s 2018/19 season was one of the most emotionally charged campaigns in the club’s recent history.
With Mauricio Pochettino having established his team as a top-four side and the club gearing up to move into their new stadium, Spurs would find themselves deep inside a Champions League run as the season reached its business end.
Following a last-16 stroll past Borussia Dortmund, Tottenham faced a domestic opponent in the quarter-finals when they took on Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City, before a semi-final against Ajax and another all-English affair in the final against Liverpool.
Pochettino on Tottenham’s Champions League run
For Pochettino, Lucas Moura’s hat-trick goal against Ajax remains one of his best moments in football, but he is quick to acknowledge how his side got there.
“That [match against Ajax] was one of the greatest nights of my career, but without the previous tie against City, we wouldn’t have even got to that semi-final,” Pochettino tells FourFourTwo.
“We won the first leg 1-0 at home to City, in a game where Hugo Lloris saved a penalty from Sergio Aguero and Harry Kane injured his ankle.
“Guardiola had described Tottenham as “Harry Kane’s team”, which didn’t sit well with us because it seemed to diminish the work of the group.
“So playing the second leg at the Etihad without Kane and eliminating City carried enormous value for us.”
In Kane’s absence, Son Heung-min bagged a brace and Fernando Llorente scored what proved to be the decisive goal as Spurs’ 4-3 defeat on the night meant they progressed on away goals.
Once Ajax had been dealt with - again on away goals - Liverpool awaited in the final, with Jurgen Klopp’s side fresh from another dramatic tie, where the Reds came back from a 3-0 first-leg deficit to knock out Barcelona.
A second-minute Mohamed Salah penalty was bookended by a late Divock Origi strike, as Pochettino’s dream of claiming Spurs’ first European crown were dashed.
“We can’t regret anything,” Pochettino says as he looks back at the final in Madrid. “We played the way we did because we believed it was the best approach. After that, there are factors you can’t control.
“That handball by Moussa Sissoko wouldn’t be given as a penalty today, and it changed the script of the match because it put us at a disadvantage very early on.”