London: Mauricio Pochettino faces a defining moment in his Tottenham reign as the in-demand Argentine tries to keep his bid for a first major prize alive against Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League.
Pochettino has taken to defending his failure to win silverware in almost five years at Tottenham by insisting he values qualification for Europe’s elite club competition more highly than success in the domestic cups.
But for all of Pochettino’s protestations that reaching the Champions League is his primary goal, that claim rings a little hollow when they never make it to the business end of the tournament.
Tottenham have never been past the last 16 of either the Champions League or the Europa League since Pochettino arrived from Southampton in May 2014.
Now Bundesliga leaders Dortmund, who visit Wembley for the Champions League last-16 first leg on Wednesday, stand between Pochettino and his first European quarter-final in what could his last season with the north London club.
Pochettino, yet to win a trophy in his managerial career, has been strongly linked with a move to Manchester United at the end of the season.
If that mooted deal may now be less of a sure thing given Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s remarkable impact as interim boss at Old Trafford, there is little doubt Pochettino will still be a man in demand, with Real Madrid also believed to be interested in his services.
Injury woes for Dortmund
With the absence of injured playmaker Marco Reus, Borussia Dortmund will be without their best player against Spurs, Germany legend Lothar Matthaeus said on Tuesday.
Reus has scored 17 goals and created 11 more for the Bundesliga leaders this season, but a thigh strain will keep him out of the last 16, first leg against Spurs at Wembley.
However, it is not just Reus who will be missing against Spurs. Right-back Lukasz Piszczek is out with a heel injury, stand-in centre-back Julian Weigl has flu and striker Paco Alcacer is sidelined by a shoulder injury.
Spurs are also without big names of their own as England forwards Harry Kane and Dele Alli are injured.
Solari’s fledglings breathe life into Real
Real Madrid against Ajax would typically be a clash of stars against prodigies but when they face each other on Wednesday, the difference will be harder to distinguish.
Ajax will have their latest crop of young gems at the Johan Cruyff Arena, where Frenkie de Jong and Matthijs de Ligt will attempt to live up to already-swelling reputations while the likes of Donny van de Beek, Andre Onana and Kasper Dolberg could also enhance theirs. The surprise is less that Ajax’s line-up will be sprinkled with emerging talents than the expectation Madrid’s will be too.
Gareth Bale aside, the galacticos are gone, replaced by a handful of prospects trying to forge their own way through, only at the biggest and most demanding club in the world.
The shift was not so much initiated by the current coach Santiago Solari, whose predecessors Zinedine Zidane and Julen Lopetegui both used youth when they had to, primarily to rest key players or remind them their place was not guaranteed.
But in the biggest games, Zidane and Lopetegui were drawn to experience, while Solari has made youth first choice since being tasked with rejuvenating his team in November.
