Pochettino Berates Juventus Bosses For Putting Pressure On Referee During UCL Clash

Tottenham Hotspur boss Mauricio Pochettino has berated Juventus supremos Andrea Agnelli and Beppe Marotta for influencing the centre referee Szymon Marciniak during Wednesday’s UEFA Champions League (UCL) match.

Juventus trailed to a Son Heung-Min goal in the first half before second half strikes from Gonzalo Higuain and Paolo Dybala overturned the result in the Italian champions’ favour to secure a last eight spot.

According to The Telegraph, Pochettino said: “Before the game was Agnelli, after the game was Agnelli, Marotta. I saw at half-time how they put pressure on the referee.”

“It’s about small details that count a lot in this type of game, even games that both teams can win. I believe those details can help the club to achieve what we want.

“It’s small details. Competitions demand different things. Juve are specialists, because they have habit to win, the habit to put pressure referee.

“It’s a massive lesson for us to care not only on the pitch, but off the pitch. When you’re going to win, you need help from everyone.

“The owner stayed in the corridor, in the tunnel before and during the game. It’s a club with a culture to try to do everything to help the team.

“It’s a massive opportunity to learn not only on the pitch but outside. It’s two games against this type of club – one on the pitch, one is outside of the pitch.

“I think it’s a massive situation that you must learn from. If we only see the stats from the two games, Tottenham was the much better team.

“Then in football it’s not only about a better performance, stats, shots more on targets, or have more possession.” Pochettino concluded.