Tottenham striker Harry Kane revealed the desire not to let down boss Mauricio Pochettino inspired their memorable draw at Barcelona, which sent them through to the knockout stages of the Champions League.
Spurs progressed from the group stage with a 1-1 draw at the Nou Camp on Tuesday night, with Lucas Moura’s late goal enough to pip Inter Milan to second spot in Group B thanks to their better head-to-head record, with the Italians only managing to draw at home to PSV Eindhoven.
It completed a remarkable turnaround for Pochettino’s men as they looked dead and buried at the halfway point of their Group B campaign, having taken just a point from their first three games.
What a performance from the lads. Did more than enough to win the game but going through was the aim so job done! Bring on the draw. #COYS #THFC #UCL pic.twitter.com/V7Ew8OyLa3 — Harry Kane (@HKane) December 11, 2018
But back-to-back wins over PSV and Inter saw them travel to Barcelona with their fate in their own hands and, in the end, the point was enough to see them progress, even if they did spurn a string of chances to win the game.
And the squad’s love of Pochettino was what fired Spurs up, according to Kane.
“I can’t speak highly enough of him,” said the England captain. “I’ve said before he’s a fantastic manager, a fantastic man.
“It’s always about hard work and belief. That’s what he said to us before the game and at half-time – just believe, bring energy, work, and we’ll get the reward.
“Thankfully the football gods were looking down on us because PSV got the result.
“You just want to perform for him, work hard for him, win for him. He’s very passionate.
“You can tell sometimes he wants to be out there himself, putting in tackles, running about.
“As a player, you respond to that. On nights like this, big occasions, you just want to do him justice.
🗣️ "To turn it around in the way that we did is incredible."@HKane on reaching the #UCL last 16 against the odds.#COYS pic.twitter.com/agKrqcVh8P — Tottenham Hotspur (@SpursOfficial) December 12, 2018
“We’re buzzing, he was obviously very happy in the changing room. We should enjoy it.”
The result marked another successful night for Tottenham at one of European football’s powerhouses. In the last 18 months they have gone to Real Madrid, Borussia Dortmund, Juventus and now Barcelona and remained unbeaten.
They threw their Champions League hopes away at home to Juve in the last 16 last season and Kane is eyeing a deeper run this time around.
“This is right up there. We’ve had some good results, especially away from home in the Champions League – Juventus, Real Madrid,” he said.
“But (last night) it was all or nothing. We had to perform or we were going out of the competition. We didn’t win the game, but we did more than enough to go through.
“It’s another step forward. We’re going to celebrate this. It’s a massive achievement for the club, but it’s important we carry on.
“We want to go as far as we can in this competition. This will give us belief we can do that.
“The manner in which we played, the chances we created, shows we can be as good as anyone on our day.
⏱️ 8.00pm: FCB 0-0 TOT – IN ✅ ⏱️ 8.08pm: FCB 1-0 TOT – OUT ❌ ⏱️ 8.13pm: INT 0-1 PSV – IN ✅ ⏱️ 9.31pm: INT 1-1 PSV – OUT ❌⏱️ 9.42pm: FCB 1-1 TOT – IN ✅ An emotional roller coaster in the #UCL! 😅#COYS pic.twitter.com/uXy6VE65CZ — Tottenham Hotspur (@SpursOfficial) December 12, 2018
“There’s no bigger game than Barcelona away. We know if we get them again in the latter stages – or Real Madrid or Juve again, like last year – we definitely know it’s in there.
“It’s time to step it up and show we can do it in the knockout stages. Who knows how far we can go?
“It’s about belief. We’ve done the hard bit of getting through the group. Now it’s about getting as far as we can.”
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