Tottenham Hotspur take on Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League tomorrow night, heading into the away leg three goals to the good.
Despite the Germans dominating the first half at Wembley, Spurs were able to bite back, running riot in the second half with goals from Heung Min Son, Jan Vertonghen, and Fernando Llorente.
Tottenham already have one foot in the quarter finals, knowing that one away goal would leave Dortmund needing five, but the tie is far from over.
Spurs come into the game off the back of a tiring North London Derby, and have had 24 fewer hours than their German counterparts to prepare for the match.
Mauricio Pochettino believes that clubs going head to head in Europe should be given the same number of days to prepare and recover.
He also believes Tottenham need help from the FA and the Premier League to compete in the Champions League at full capacity.
He pointed to Rennes in the Europa League as an example, as they were allowed to cancel a League game to prepare for their match against Arsenal.
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Poch said (Football London): “I think we need help from the FA, we need help from the Premier League, I don’t now because I am not involved in the decisions. Look, Dortmund played on Friday, for us impossible. We play Sunday and then played the first leg on Wednesday, now we play Saturday when Dortmund play Friday. I don’t know to blame the FA or to blame the Premier League or to blame Tottenham because we changed the day because we still not deliver our new stadium or the TV because they wanted us to play live on Saturday. It is difficult for me to answer that question.
“Look what happened with Rennes in the Europa League. They cancelled their game at the weekend to help or provide Rennes to play against Arsenal. In Europe it is more sensitive, the FAs to help the club to compete in the best way in Europe. I am not going to blame someone, maybe we need to blame ourselves because we struggled to deal with this type of thing. But of course that is not fair for the players, for the team to compete with a massive disadvantage. Twenty four or 48 hours is massive, you know very well, the players know every well, every knows.
“I don’t say that I am complaining about someone, only that I would like to play in the same situation as your opponent. That is the most important, you have the same day to prepare for the game. If not it is normal that you find a different way to prepare the game. The players today are in the critical day for recovery, but that is not a thing to complain about. To run the same or maybe more than Dortmund, I think that is not fair and it is a problem that in the future it is a thing we need to change if we want to help the English clubs be stronger in the competition.
“I don’t say that it is only us. I was just describing the situation, I am not trying to justify. It wasn’t fair for us to play Dortmund at Wembley in the situation. I don’t know who, but we need to be more sensitive to the clubs who play in Europe to provide better condition to have the same possibility to arrive to the games. I don’t know how they will work. It’s true the FA or Premier League need to be more sensitive to this type of situation. It’s difficult and going to be more difficult.”
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