Barcelona v Spurs - Mauricio's preview

Mauricio Pochettino knows what it’s like to lead a team into the Nou Camp arena – he feels focus is key as our players face a crucial Champions League match against Barcelona this evening (8pm UK).

Mauricio spent 12 years as player and manager of Barcelona’s city rivals Espanyol. Indeed, in his first game in charge, back in 2009, he led Espanyol to victory at the Nou Camp in the Catalan derby.

At Spurs since the summer of 2014, Mauricio hasn’t taken a team to the Nou Camp since 2012.

As he returns, we need to match Inter’s result at home to PSV to progress to the knockout stages of the competition.

“It’s like the Bernabeu at Real Madrid, it’s always so impressive, you feel it’s a massive club and of course, they are showing in the last 20, 30 years that they are one of the biggest clubs in the world,” said Mauricio.

“The most important thing is to be focused on your job because after everything, a pitch is a pitch and you need to be focused 100 per cent on the game. Of course it’s a special stadium, we need to think we can win there and have that belief and perform in the best way.”

There has been a lot of talk on Barca’s potential line-up with goalkeeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen and striker Luis Suarez already ruled out by boss Ernesto Valderde.

Asked what he expected from Barca, he said: “It’s difficult to guess. What’s most important, like I always I say to the players and to you is to think about us, to think about ourselves and to try to perform in the best way, don’t think about what they are going to do - only focus on trying to do a good job for us.”