Tottenham Hotspur beat Borussia Dortmund on Tuesday night.
Tottenham Hotspur boss Mauricio Pochettino has told Football.London that he thought Juan Foyth was ‘fantastic’ against Borussia Dortmund – but must still improve.
Spurs hosted Dortmund in the first leg of their Champions League last 16 clash on Wednesday night, and they came into the game off the back of four straight Premier League wins over Fulham, Watford, Newcastle and Leicester.
Still without Harry Kane and Dele Alli, many were predicting a tough task against the Bundesliga leaders, but Tottenham turned in a superb performance at Wembley Stadium.
After a cagey first half, Son Heung-min volleyed Spurs in front from Jan Vertonghen’s cross, continuing his remarkable record against Dortmund.
Vertonghen then scored himself from a Serge Aurier cross, before Fernando Llorente headed in Christian Eriksen’s corner to make it 3-0 late on.
Spurs now have a huge lead to take to Dortmund for the second leg, and despite all the attacking play, the performance of defender Juan Foyth has caught the eye.
The Argentinian youngster wasn’t even registered for the Champions League in the group stage, but impressed for Spurs after making a couple of mistakes in the first half.
After the game, Pochettino noted that Foyth still needs to improve, but praised him for his bravery, and called him fantastic whilst noting that it’s easy to say playing him worked after a 3-0 win but reminded people of his principles to play the right players regardless of age or name.
“After 3-0 it’s easy to say yes but it’s the same as Kyle Walker-Peters playing in a decisive game in Barcelona,” said Pochettino. “The most important thing is when we feel something, when we believe the player deserves to play, it’s not important the name, the experience is not important. It’s not important if they’re a 20 or 30 year old. In our job the most important is to be fair in your decision. To feel or have some idea, knowledge about how they can behave. I’m so happy for him, he was fantastic today.”
“Of course he still needs to improve and learn. He’s so brave, braver than you expect, braver than the people expect. The first action was unbelievable, the people were pushing him and then he made a few mistakes because he wanted to play. But I prefer that players who make mistakes trying to play. I was a completely different type of centre back, not with his quality. I love the players taking risks and are brave like he is,” he added.
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