Pochettino Says Europa League Is Important

 

Mauricio Pochettino says the Europa League is important to Tottenham after they qualified for the competition with a 3-1 win over CSKA Moscow on Wednesday. The convincing victory at Wembley ensured Spurs finished third in Champions League Group E behind Monaco and Bayer Leverkusen and they will now be in the draw for the last 32 of the Europa League on Monday.

Although it will mean playing on Thursday nights when the competition resumes in 2017, Spurs boss Pochettino does not see it as a consolation prize. He said “We need to move ahead, we have the opportunity to play more here, and that's important to make Wembley our home, the Europa League is a good competition to go far. We believe we can win that competition and in the Premier League we can go far, near the top.”

Having fallen behind against CSKA to Alan Dzagoev's 33rd-minute strike, Spurs replied through Dele Alli and Harry Kane before half-time. An own goal from Igor Akinfeev made sure of the win as Spurs won at Wembley for the first time this season at the third time of asking.