It was Tottenham’s best win since Ajax, the night that started with them going 3-0 down on aggregate and ended with Mauricio Pochettino running around the pitch crying buckets of tears.



This 2-0 win over Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City was their best of this season, the best since they replaced Pochettino with Jose Mourinho and one that felt like it made sense of that decision in late November. For the players, who like Mourinho, feel trusted by him, and want his football to work, it felt like a sign.



Take one quick glance and this might look like a Mourinho masterclass, a 2020 version of the 2010 Champions League run, an object lesson in how you don’t need the ball to win the game. “Football favours whoever provokes more errors in the opposition,” as the old ethos goes. “Whoever renounces possession reduces the possibility of making a mistake.”



Look in more detail and you see how unlikely this win was. Spurs went in...