Mauricio Pochettino praises Messi

CAIRO – 13 October 2017: Tottenham Hotspur Coach Mauricio Pochettino admitted that he fell asleep watching the Ecuador-Argentina match on Wednesday night.
The Argentinian confessed in an interview that his children woke him up after Lionel Messi scored the first of the three goals of a historic night.

Pochettino preferred to appreciate the Barcelona player’s performance in Ecuador. "I fell asleep watching the match. I was woken up by my children, but I missed Messi's first goal, and then I saw what he did," he said.

Although he later wanted to break a lance in favor of Barca, "Messi felt that direct responsibility being the best of not being able to give Argentina the chance to play a World Cup. It would have been difficult to accept the elimination. You always trust when you know the quality of Messi and Argentine football."

Pochettino, who denied that Real Madrid had been in contact with him in the past to occupy its bench, praised the white coach, Zinedine Zidane: "what I like about Zidane is his patience and his common sense. He manages the bench just like when he played football," he said.

Real Madrid and Tottenham will meet in the next Champions League match. Pochettino believes that "we are going to measure ourselves with the best team in the world. It's a game to be brave and a test that will tell us where we are."