Tottenham are now better than Man Utd with Pochettino and Levy turning fantasy into reality on a budget

WE’VE been hearing a lot about the miracle of Ajax – and rightly so.

Yet Tottenham’s Champions League semi-final opponents do not have a monopoly on extraordinary over-achievement.


Just as financial logic dictates that Ajax should never have denied both Real Madrid and Cristiano Ronaldo a fourth successive European Cup, the balance sheets also state that Tottenham shouldn’t even be in the Champions League – let alone the last four.

Spurs have, by far and away, the smallest budget of the Premier League’s top six – around half that of the Manchester clubs and Liverpool.

Yet after years of excellence in the boardroom and on the training ground, here they are, all of a sudden, with the best stadium in Europe and as potential champions of Europe.

Wednesday night’s chaotic masterpiece of a Champions League quarter-final against Manchester City was a triumph for fantasy over reason.

The club once dubbed the ‘Harry Kane team’ by Pep Guardiola knocked out prince Guardiola's filthy-rich Manchester City without Harry Kane.

And this after not a single signing was made in the last two transfer windows – a Premier League record.

And with a squad cut to the bone, as was exposed when Moussa Sissoko limped off injured, requiring a complete re-shuffle – Fernando Llorente on, Son Heung-Min from No9 to No10 and Dele Alli from No 10 to No 8.

Mousa Dembele had been flogged to China in January for another few million towards paying for Daniel Levy’s magnificent Taj Mahal of a stadium.

And, without Harry Winks or Eric Dier, Pochettino was forced to do what he does at Spurs.

Make do and mend. Coach players and improve them. Build a team and refine it.

Stability isn’t fashionable but it has a lot going for it, as Spurs have proved.

Spurs have a superior stadium and training ground to United. They have a better team unit and a better club structure.Post-Ferguson, Spurs will finish higher than United for the fourth time in six seasons and have now reached Europe’s last four – which United haven’t managed in eight years.

This is a group of modern footballers, much like any other – there are egos, there are jealousies, some get on better than others – but out on the pitch, there is mutual knowledge and bond of trust between them.

It’s not all about blood, sweat and salt tears, these are damned good players. But they have been worked like dogs by Pochettino over five years.

Spurs have often faded physically in the latter stages of seasons – due to a thin squad and their unusually high intensity of work in training.

Not this time, though.

Their gamble in moving home in April – controversial with rival clubs – has paid off and given Spurs a second wind after a run of one point from five Premier League games.

This was a young squad two or three years ago but they have grown up together admirably.

Kyle Walker was flogged to City for an eye-boggling £50million, but he hasn’t seen a Champions League semi-final yet.

Kieran Trippier stepped up and became the best right-back at last summer’s World Cup (though this season has been a struggle for him).

Time and again, Pochettino makes problems go away.

He made Levy look a genius, even while the new stadium was suffering embarrassing delays.

Manchester United were right in the first place when they made it known they wanted the Argentine to be Jose Mourinho’s permanent replacement.

But Levy surely would never have let him go to Old Trafford anyway.

Not even for £35million in compo.

And why would Poch have even wanted to go now?

Spurs have a superior stadium and training ground to United.

They have a better team unit and a better club structure.

Post-Ferguson, Spurs will finish higher than United for the fourth time in six seasons and have now reached Europe’s last four – which United haven’t managed in eight years.

The rest is all ancient history or social-media likes.

In footballing terms, Spurs are simply better than United now.

Despite this being Tottenham’s first European Cup semi-final in 57 years – when Eusebio’s Benfica beat the glory, glory boys of Jimmy Greaves, Cliff Jones and Danny Blanchflower – they will be favourites to progress on the overwhelming factor of budget.

Ajax’s wage bill is to Tottenham’s, as Tottenham’s is to City’s.

This Champions League campaign has been some joyride for Spurs.

One point from their first three group matches, but victories over PSV Eindhoven and Inter Milan, then a fine draw in the Nou Camp to get through.

Then the stuffing of Bundesliga leaders Borussia Dortmund and then the madness of the City tie – the VAR controversies in both legs, the injury of Kane, the end-to-end mayhem of the first 21 minutes at the Etihad, the three goals of Son Heung-Min and finally the hip or the elbow of Fernando Llorente.

Those two excellent group games against Barcelona might now be repeated in the final in Madrid on June 1.

The bookies have it as the most likely, although Ajax and Liverpool have excellent claims too.

Should Spurs make it to Atletico Madrid’s Wanda Metropolitano stadium, expect a major fitness saga surrounding Kane.

If the 25-year-old recovers from the ankle injury he suffered while the first leg was tied at 0-0, and is borderline for a final, then Poch will face one hell of a dilemma.

Kane always has an intense hunger to play when half-fit but the bizarre fact is that, for all his excellence as a goalscorer and an all-round player, Spurs have been doing better without him, with Son excelling.

For now, that’s all conjecture. Ajax will certainly be no pushovers.

Yes, the Dutch club have been doing things the right way.

But so too have Spurs.

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