Gazzetta dello Sport have set about finding Mauricio Pochettino’s Italian roots and as part of a brief interview with the Tottenham manager in their Sunday edition, the newspaper explains they’ve done some digging and presented the Argentine with their findings.
Pochettino had always known of his Italian roots, but not in precise detail, and Gazzetta have found out that his great-great-grandfather Michele is from Virle. As a stroke of coincidence, Virle is 25km outside of Turin… where Tottenham will face Juventus on Tuesday.
Whilst Pochettino was ‘excited’ with the discovery, it wasn’t the subject of the interview. The Tottenham manager was asked about the upcoming Champions League match, and said: “I’m living the best time since I coached Tottenham. The results obtained against Manchester United, Liverpool and Arsenal gave us confidence. Now we know that we can face the great team with a different spirit.”
Ahead of facing Junvetus, Pochettino feels there are two key factors for Tottenham, playing with the head and, of course, Harry Kane: “Against Italians, the first requirement is intelligence. You have to use your head. In Italy tactics and defences are one of the references.
“Kane is very strong. For three years I have often repeated the concept that he is one of the best strikers in the world, but some still think that I say it because Harry is a player of mine. His rise in these years has been incredible. The truth is that, in addition to scoring with great regularity, he has the ability to decide the matches with a shot as happened with Arsenal.”
And then with a clear hint that he doesn’t think Kane will be going anywhere in the summer, Pochettino said: “Tottenham is not just him, but he represents the future of this club.”
