Tottenham boss Mauricio Pochettino took on Real Madrid and succeeded where Brendan Rodgers failed with Liverpool
One-time Anfield boss was tipped for Kop greatness but he bottled Bernabeu trip and Tottenham man refused to follow suit
THREE years ago, a rookie Champions League manager took an English club to the Bernabeu and ran up the white flag.
Brendan Rodgers, believe it or not, was being talked up as a potential future manager of Real Madrid or Barcelona at that time. He’d almost won the Premier League and even learned the lingo.
Yet when he surrendered the match here with seven changes to his Liverpool side, the Northern Irishman proved he wasn’t a truly big-time manager.
For Mauricio Pochettino, there was no such lack of ambition, no hesitation, no backward step.
The Tottenham manager stepped into this world-famous crucible with a swagger.
In a shock move, Pochettino employed Fernando Llorente in tandem with Harry Kane — the Spanish centre forward’s first start in a major fixture since arriving Swansea in the summer.
It was a team-sheet which smacked of self-belief, even against the 12-times European champions in their own backyard.
The result was little short of a group-stage classic — a breathless, wide open, machete-between-the-teeth sort of a match.
We should not have been surprised. Where so many other managers fear to tread — for instance when it comes to blooding homegrown kids — Poch does not flinch.
His funky 3-5-2 formation might have looked like leaving young Harry Winks exposed and out-numbered in central midfield.
But Pochettino believes in all of the kids he promotes, not least Winks his latest England graduate.
The last time Spurs took on Real, Winks was one of the line of flag-waving teenage kids on the White Hart Lane turf, greeting the players as they walked on.
Winks said he’d been awestruck by Cristiano Ronaldo that night but there was no sign of stage fright here.
And the last time Spurs had played here, Kane was a substitute for Leyton Orient, playing the last five minutes of a match against Plymouth that same evening in 2011.
Now, like his manager, Kane arrived here on the greatest stage of all billed us a future Real Madrid employee.
And right from the word go Kane proved he was in no mood to doff his cap to the footballing aristocracy he was pitted against.
There was a downward header from a Christian Eriksen corner which forced a save from Keylor Navas and a saucy turn of Raphael Varane as he teed up Llorente for a chance.
And then he was breathing down the neck of Varane, forcing the mistake which brought the own goal, putting Tottenham in front and sending their supporters into delirium up in the gods.
For the 3,600 Spurs fans who made the trip, this was the night which really made flesh last season’s achievements — a best League finish in 54 years, a first finish above Arsenal in the Arsene Wenger era.
Spurs in the Bernabeu with the Champions League theme caterwauling away; the Arsenal off to Belgrade for the little league game on a Thursday night.
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They were singing in the rain, bellowing their hearts out knowing, irrespective of the result that this was an ‘I-was-there’ night.
Victory over Borussia Dortmund at Wembley in their opening match had them believing in qualification from this group.
But going ahead in the Bernabeu must have surpassed the wildest dreams of most.
Ronaldo, who had headed against a post early on, equalised from the spot after Serge Aurier had clumsily brought down Toni Kroos.
And Spurs were under the cosh for the opening period of the second half.
Yet they weathered it and then Llorente was creating chances for Kane, whose shot lacked customary purpose, allowing Navas to tip wide — and then Eriksen, whose effort was turned into the side-netting.
Danny Rose was sent on for his first appearance since January, replacing Llorente in the first suggestion of a backward step from Pochettino.
He was greeted warmly by supporters who’d seemingly forgiven his outspoken criticisms of the summer and he slipped into central midfield, alongside Winks.
The former flag-waving kid ended up going eyeball-to-eyeball with Ronaldo near the end. There wasn’t a hint that he didn’t belong here.
But then that is Spurs at the moment. At least when they play anywhere other than Wembley, they operate without the faintest hint of fear. If this was an application for the hottest managerial seat in world football, then Pochettino had passed it with Real boss Zinedine Zidane is not going anywhere in a hurry after becoming the first man to retain this trophy in the Champions League era.
But this was a night which might end up being remembered by the Real hierarchy when they are looking for a boss some time in the future.
Pochettino, the ‘no guts, no glory’ gunslinger. The sort of attitude they love at Tottenham. The sort of attitude they adore at Real Madrid.