Spurs 3-0 APOEL - Mauricio's reaction

Mauricio Pochettino had plenty to smile about after our 3-0 win against APOEL - and it started with Michel Vorm.

The Dutch goalkeeper kicked-off his professional football career at FC Utrecht in 2000 and 17 years on, aged 34, made his first appearance in the Champions League.

Captain for the night, the goalkeeper presided over a comfortable victory with plenty of plus-points for the manager including Champions League debuts for Juan Foyth, Kyle Walker-Peters and Kazaiah Sterling, the latest Academy player to graduate to a first team appearance. There were also first Spurs goals for Fernando Llorente and GK Nkoudou.

Fernando opened the scoring on 20 minutes, Heung-Min Son hit a trademark curler for 2-0 on 37 minutes and GK wrapped it up 10 minutes from time.

If that wasn’t enough, victory made it five wins and a draw in our six matches in Group H - 16 points the highest total of any team in the UCL group stage this season.

Mauricio said: “Michel Vorm - his first Champions League game. It was amazing. We didn’t realise until a few minutes before the game that it was going to be his first game.

“We played two centre-backs (aged) 21 and 19 in the Champions League, unbelievable.

“I’m very happy for GK and of course Fernando. They both scored and it’s so important for them, first of all to feel the net and confidence is so important, they played 90 minutes and helped the team to finish in this way.

“It was important for us to build our momentum and confidence and for many players who don't have the opportunity to play in the starting 11 every game to build their confidence as well. It's important to add that competition for places in the squad.”

A memorable group stage! ️ Dortmund (H): 3-1 APOEL (A): 0-3 Real Madrid (A): 1-1 ️ Real Madrid (H): 3-1 Dortmund (A): 1-2 ️ APOEL (H): 3-0 Next stop, the @ChampionsLeague knockouts. #COYSpic.twitter.com/pK4bTdOPJq

— Tottenham Hotspur (@SpursOfficial) December 6, 2017

On our bright start against APOEL...
Mauricio: “We were talking a lot because in the last few games we’ve started a little bit sloppy and conceded chances to the opponent so it was good to be focused and to concentrate on the game from the beginning and start to play with a high tempo.”

On taking 16 points from 18…
Mauricio: “The campaign was fantastic, a lot of things to be very proud of. The team deserves all the praise.”