‘I will take the same decision again’: Mauricio Pochettino does not regret starting Harry Kane in the 2019 Champions League final loss to Liverpool despite striker’s struggles with a serious injury ahead of Madrid showdown
- Mauricio Pochettino appeared on Sky Sports’ Monday Night Football this week
- He still does not regret starting Harry Kane in the 2019 Champions League final
- Kane had a serious injury and missed the last six weeks of the league season
- The England captain started the final against Liverpool but Spurs lost 2-0
Former Tottenham boss Mauricio Pochettino still stands by his decision to play Harry Kane in the 2019 Champions League final with the Spurs striker was struggling for fitness.
Kane was a major injury doubt for Spurs’ biggest game in their history against Liverpool and missed the final six weeks of the Premier League season with ligament injury.
The England captain made it back in time to start the final but failed to impress as Tottenham ran out 2-0 losers to their Premier League rivals.
Mauricio Pochettino does not regret starting Harry Kane in the 2019 Champions League final
Kane struggled with injury in the run-up to the final against Liverpool but started the 2-0 loss
But Pochettino was never in any doubt to not start Kane in the Madrid showpiece event, telling Sky Sports: ‘For sure if you put me in the same situation I will take the same decision again.
‘You can’t doubt about Harry Kane. Of course, maybe you can make some changes but Harry Kane was our main striker and was the best player in Tottenham and also in Europe and when he’s fit to play you can’t have doubts.
‘It was no doubt we believed that it was the best team to win the game.’
Nearly 18 months on, Pochettino (above) stands by his decision as Kane was Spurs’ top striker
Kane was Tottenham’s key man that season and ended the campaign with 24 goals and six assists in 40 matches in all competitions.
The striker scored five times in the run to the Champions League final but a serious injury in the middle of April derailed him and Tottenham’s season.
He missed the Champions League quarter-final second leg against Manchester City and both semi-final matches versus Ajax – with Spurs won in dramatic fashion due to a second-half hat-trick from Lucas Moura in Amsterdam.
Kane (above) missed the last six weeks of the league season and both of Spurs’ semi-final legs
It proved to be the high point in Pochettino’s reign in north London, as he was sacked as Spurs boss six months after the final in Madrid due to a poor start to the 2019-20 campaign.
The Argentinian boss claimed that it is major regret that he could not deliver a trophy to the Tottenham community during his five-and-a-half years at the Premier League side.
Pochettino continued: ‘It was an amazing journey and I enjoyed it a lot, we feel sad that we could not provide the fans and the group of players with a trophy.
‘We missed (the chance) to win a title. That would have put the cherry on the cake.’