Tue 30 July 2019, 20:15
Tottenham HotspurMauricio Pochettino sees Wednesday’s Audi Cup Final as “a good opportunity to be strong” after another excellent pre-season performance and result against Real Madrid.
Harry Kane’s first-half strike proved the difference between the sides as we beat the La Liga giants 1-0 in Tuesday evening’s semi-final at the Allianz Arena in Munich.
But that wasn’t the whole story. We again produced a fine team performance with positive contributions from players both young and experienced, Dele denied a second goal by Real goalkeeper Keylor Navas and teenage striker Troy Parrott hitting the post late on.
Having only arrived back in the UK from our tour of Asia on Saturday, where we played well in a 3-2 win over Juventus in Singapore and then lost narrowly to Manchester United in Shanghai despite another encouraging showing, it was a magnificent effort from the players to beat Real in Germany.
Now we do it all again 24 hours later against the winners of Tuesday night’s other semi between tournament hosts Bayern Munich and Fenerbahce.
“I am so happy, I think the performance was very good. We played well against Real Madrid – that is never easy – so yes, a lot of positive things,” beamed Mauricio after the Real victory.
“It was a very professional performance. After the trip to Shanghai and Singapore it was difficult to recover but I think we were very good. Of course, you need to see the value of that victory (against Real) and now to be ready for tomorrow is going to be difficult too but I'm happy because that (result) is to build our mentality and our belief.”
Asked how he’s going to prepare his squad for a rare second game in as many days, the manager added: “I think we are going to mix (the players) tomorrow again and it's a good opportunity to be strong. From the beginning of pre-season the group has been fantastic and I am so happy.”
