I love the competition as much as everyone in football. It’s something that everybody dreams of winning. I was happy to win it twice. I would like to win it again, but right now it is not time to speak about it. It is now the moment to qualify. I think one of the reasons my teams are never out of the group stage is that we think about the 6 matches and not about the play-offs. Tomorrow is the match that can give us a qualification. That is not going to be an easy match, good opponent, good coach, whom I know well. We drew in Athens that shows that there is not a big difference between the teams, but we hope to get the result we want.On not approaching to fans after the West Ham win
I didn’t go there because I felt I wanted the players to be the guys and they are the guys, so I didn’t want to go where the fans were, so I just waited outside. Obviously it was a good feeling, I want to thank them, but again, it’s not about me, it’s about the players. I am like fans, I watch the game outside the pitch, they want to help the team to win with their hearts, I want to help the team with my passion and my knowledge and experience, but everything is about the players.On Pochettino
I spoke with his son (Maurizio), a player from our youth team, and I think he can understand my feelings through his boy. I will call him, I also told the players to make him feel completely free to come here anytime he wants, training session, dinner. If he wants me to be there, I will be, if he doesn’t want me, I will not be there.On Pochettino’s words, that it would be a miracle for Tottenham to win the Champions League
Sometimes we use words to describe things, but words do not reflect exactly what actually is. I would change ‘miracle’ by ‘difficult’. I wouldn’t use the word miracle, but probably I did it a few times. I think, obviously, there are teams with a different culture of victory, different potential and experience, which plays a role. But with these boys I would never be afraid of a Champions League opponents. We need to qualify, that’s the focus. I don’t think about last 16, I start having the feeling of winning from quarterfinals. But at this moment we have to qualify, give me time to work and develop my ideas with these boys and I will not have a problem to play against big opponents.