But Juventus showed real European pedigree with two goals in three minutes to turn the tie.
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Tottenham Hotspur and Juventus go into the second leg with very little separating them.
Harry Kane reduced the deficit for Spurs going into the first half break and an unstoppable hit from the free-kick line by Christian Eriksen restored parity for Tottenham.
But Pochettino, the Spurs manager, told his players to forget about the possible permutations and play to win against the Serie A champions.
“But at the same time I think we were in both legs, in both games we were the better team”.
“For us it is like a final because we know if we don’t get a result we will be out”.
The England global hasn’t been able to hit the heights of last season for Tottenham this time around, but continues to be a vital cog in the scheme of things. “At the moment he’s among the top two or three strikers in the world”.
Higuain, the man who should probably have put the first leg out of Tottenham’s reach but for some poor misses, this time made no mistake when he hooked in Sami Khedira’s header at the far post. “We were almost out of the competition”. In 39 appearances across all competitions, Alli has managed 9 goals and 12 assists, which are still very impressive numbers.
“We are used to these games”.
Lamela has been strongly linked with a return to Italy for much of his five-year spell at Spurs and it would be no surprise if he did leave in the summer. Should the Serie A giants score early, they would wholeheartedly back themselves to keep Spurs out for the remainder of the game, having done so against Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez and Neymar at the Nou Camp last season.
“Tottenham quite clearly have a lot of great attributes, they have a tried and trusted style of play”. We’ve talked a lot.
“Dybala is fully fit, as seen against Lazio, but tomorrow is such an important game that they all want to be a part of it, even if not at 100 per cent. The team that has the best clinical edge will be the team that goes through”. The most quiet I am is when we are going to compete.
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Juventus brought Higuain to London and he trained successfully at Wembley on Tuesday but Allegri will be without Carlo Pinsoglio, Mattia De Sciglio, Federico Bernardeschi, Mario Mandzukic, and Juan Cuadrado. It could make for a highly entertaining game. We expect a tough game, another battle. Dybala fluffed a chance to fire in a half-volley after a Davinson Sanchez clearance fell kindly for him. There’ll be more space tomorrow, more room and more chances.
