Pochettino reveals what he told Jesus Perez about away goals

Chelsea progressed to the Carabao Cup final after they overcame Tottenham on a penalty shootout.

Spurs went into the second leg at Stamford Bridge with a 1-0 advantage thanks to Harry Kane’s penalty in the first leg.

Spurs who were severally depleted in attack with several key players missing, set up to defend their advantage in the first half. That strategy backfired as they only invited pressure on to themselves and Chelsea eventually made their superiority count, racing into a two-goal lead.

Pochettino decided to tweak the system a bit for the second half and pushed Eric Dier into defence making it a back 3, which gave Rose and Aurier the freedom to go forward.

The change immediately bore fruit as Rose’s cross was headed in by Fernando Llorente early in the second half to level the tie at 2-2.

That is how the scores remained until the end of the game. Normally, of course, the result would have meant that Spurs progress to the final courtesy of the away goals rule. However, as both teams were aware, the rule had been scrapped starting from this season’s competition.

Pochettino’s reveals he joked with his assistant Jesus Perez after the game that under normal circumstances, Spurs would have gone through to the final on the away goals rule.

Speaking after the match, Pochettino told Football.London, “We were joking a bit, with Jesus, in the Copa del Rey in Spain, and other competitions in Europe, if you score away from home and it’s 2-2 at the end of 180 minutes, I think the team who scored away from home goes through to the final.”

“But last season, the Carabao Cup changed the rules and now we’re out because of penalties. I was joking with Jesus about that. A little bit unlucky. Only I feel proud. I told the players I feel so proud.”

Related Topics