Tottenham Hotspur continued their unbeaten start to their Champions League campaign, drawing 1-1 with Real Madrid.
Lothar Matthaus has told The Sun that while he expected them to play well, Tottenham surprised him by avoiding defeat against Real Madrid on Tuesday, and he has urged the two clubs to be smart when they meet next month.
Mauricio Pochettino’s men put one foot in the knockout stages of the Champions League as they continued their unbeaten start to the group-stages by drawing 1-1 in the Bernabeu to leave them six points clear of the other two teams in the group with three games remaining.
And Matthaus has admitted that Spurs surprised him by managing to secure a point, and suggested that in some ways, they were slightly unlucky not to win.
“This was the performance of the week for me,” he told The Sun.
“I thought that Spurs would play well at Real but I still expected them to lose.
“They really surprised me. They deserved their draw, had chances to win, and showed they are a good and improving team.”
As mentioned, the result puts Tottenham on the cusp of the next stage, with Borussia Dortmund and APOEL Nicosia six points behind with nine to play for. And Matthaus has suggested that Pochettino’s men and Los Blancos can ensure that they put themselves in an even better position when they meet at Wembley at the start of next month.
“If Tottenham and Real are smart, they will draw at Wembley and then both will be through if they win against APOEL,” he added.
Of course, there is no way that Pochettino will be instructing his players to play for the draw when they meet Madrid at Wembley.
Tottenham took the game to Los Blancos in the Bernabeu, so they are highly unlikely to adopt a different stance in the rematch considering how many problems they caused, especially as a positive result will not only virtually guarantee a spot in the knockout stages, but also put them in a fantastic position to take top spot.
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