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Mauricio Pochettino reveals Tottenham ‘suffering’ after draw with Barcelona
MAURICIO POCHETTINO lauded his Tottenham stars for defying the odds and getting a result against Barcelona to secure their progress to the last-16 of the Champions League.
Pochettino praises ‘fantastic’ team after Barcelona draw
Tottenham needed to match Inter Milan’s result in order to stand any chance of qualifying for the knockout stages.
And Spurs came away from the Nou Camp with a 1-1 draw to pull off the seemingly impossible.
After falling behind to an early Ousmane Dembele goal, Lucas Moura equalised with five minutes remaining of the game to send the pocket of travelling Spurs fans into ecstasy.
Liverpool were the last English team to beat Barca in the Nou Camp.
But Pochettino has reckons Spurs deserved to go through on the balance of what went on over the course of the group stages.
“The players were fantastic. A massive effort,” Pochettino said.
“I am so happy for the fans.
“A massive massive achievement for the club.
"I am so happy. We suffered because when we finished the game we did not know the result at Inter.
“It was two very difficult minutes but in the end of course we were so happy. It's so important for the club.
"I always believed it was possible to win the game.
“We produced a lot of chances.
“But after we missed so many we thought maybe it was not our night.
“We fully deserved to go through with Barcelona.
“We were the best teams in a difficult group."
Spurs will now take their place in the last-16 draw on Monday (11am UK time).