Spurs 0-1 Ajax - Mauricio's verdict

Ajax lead 1-0 at the halfway point of our Champions League semi-final but Mauricio Pochettino said our second half show gave him hope for the second leg in Amsterdam next Wednesday.

Conquerors of Real Madrid and Juventus, Ajax had the better of the first half and took an early lead with what turned out to be the game’s only goal through Donny van de Beek on 15 minutes.

We struggled to get a foothold in the game but the arrival of Moussa Sissoko off the bench in unfortunate circumstances for injured Jan Vertonghen on 39 minutes actually sparked a revival. Moussa, back from a recent injury himself, drove us on centrally as we changed formation from 3-4-3 to 4-2-3-1.

Chances arrived, but we couldn’t carve out that one clear-cut opportunity we all craved. Toby Alderweireld and Fernando Llorente headed off target from free-kicks, Moussa flashed a drive wide, Fernando, Christian Eriksen and Danny Rose all had shots blocked and Dele drilled an effort straight at Andre Onana. At the other end, David Neres struck the inside of the post on an Ajax break.

Possession stats read 70-30 in Ajax’s favour during the first half but we turned that around to 51-49 in our favour over the 90 minutes, just illustrating how we were able to pin Ajax back in the second half and giving us that hope for the second leg.

Mauricio reflected: “The second half gave us the hope to win the game. We showed that we can beat them. I really trust in my team. We are going to be there and compete in the best way.

“We cannot afford to start the game in the way that we started. That was the key point. They showed more energy than us, they were fresh and more pro-active than us. Then conceding the goal we conceded, that was tough.

“When Sissoko came in, we were better in the game. In the second half, the reaction was very good and we pushed them. The second half was very competitive and we created a few chances, not enough to score, but the tie is so open and we need to go there next week and try to score and win the game if we want be in the final.”

As for Jan, Mauricio told us last night: “Jan is good. He’s walking now. We hope it’s not a big issue and we will follow him and assess him tomorrow.”