Danny Rose explains what Pochettino said at half-time of that game vs Ajax 

Danny Rose has revealed that Mauricio Pochettino gave an extremely relaxed team talk at half-time ahead of Tottenham’s historic second-half comeback against Ajax in the Champions League semifinal of 2019.

Although the campaign eventually ended in disappointment, with Spurs being beaten by Liverpool in the final, the semifinal win over Ajax will live long in the memories of Tottenham fans and remains one of the greatest comebacks in the competition’s history.

Champions League
(Photo by Tom Dulat/Getty Images)

The Lilywhites found themselves 2-0 down in the tie and 3-0 down on aggregate at the break, with the Eredivisie side seemingly having one foot in the final.

However, Tottenham delivered a sensational comeback, with half-time substitute Lucas Moura scoring a second-half hattrick to send Spurs to the final and break Ajax’s hearts.

Rose revealed that the players entered the dressing room at half-time and expected a rollicking but were surprised when Pochettino gave an extremely measured team talk instead.

The former Tottenham left-back told JOE: “We had a great half-time team talk from the manager. He was going in 3-0 down and you expect the manager to throw the kitchen sink at you, but he was super calm, he gave great advice and he was so relaxed. 

“He just said ‘look, whoever scores the next goal, the tie is wide open.’ When your manager is delivering messages like that, we had all of the motivation we needed and it was brilliant.”

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As soon as Lucas scored his first and brought Spurs back into the tie, you could sense that Ajax had got nervous. However, I thought we had squandered our chance when Vertonghen hit the bar in the dying stages of the game.

No Spurs fan will ever forget the moment Lucas hit the back of the net with what was essentially the final kick of the game, and the exhilaration that followed. Of course, we all want to see Spurs win trophies but moments of ecstasy and jubilation like that are why most of us watch football.

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