Danny Rose makes claim about Mauricio Pochettino following Champions League final heartbreak

Danny Rose has provided an insight into how Mauricio Pochettino reacted following Tottenham Hotspur’s defeat to Liverpool in the Champions League final.

Pochettino guided the North London side to their first ever appearance in the last two of European football’s most prestigious club competition.

Spurs’ Champions Leauge aspirations were written off on more than one occasion and bounced back from the jaws of elimination in the group stages, along with the elimination stages in their matches against Manchester City and Ajax.

The final was somewhat of an anti-climax with Spurs failing to recover from Liverpool being awarded a controversial penalty after just 22 seconds of the match in Madrid which saw Pochettino’s side on the end of a 2-0 defeat.

Rose, who left Spurs to join Newcastle United on loan for the remainder of the season last week has claimed that Pochettino was still upset at the result when returning the club for pre-season ahead of the current campaign.

Rose told BBC Radio 5 Live’s The Friday Football Social show: “I wish I could tell you about one certain thing that happened. But you know, obviously, we got to the Champions League final, prepared for three weeks for the final and we gave away a penalty inside the first minute, so that was difficult.

“Obviously we lost, went away after that game and came back for pre-season and the lads were fine. I think the gaffer [Pochettino] was still upset about that defeat.

“I honestly don’t know what changed for us to have the form that we did do. I think it was just one of them things where we struggled to match the heights that we achieved last season and we were still getting to grips with that.”

Spurs were unable to kick on following the heartbreak and suffered a difficult start to the season which saw Pochettino dismissed in late November.

When quizzed if Pochettino had lost any of his focus, Rose added: “I understand what you mean but I would never have questioned his discipline or desire. He was always the same around the training ground and the training pitch.

“But you could sense that he was still a bit disappointed by that he hadn’t created history for the football club. But I know him personally and away from football, and to this day, I would say he is still probably hurt about us not winning the final.”

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