How a savaging from Leroy Sane taught Tottenham full-back Kieran Trippier a valuable lesson When Tottenham trudged disconsolately off the pitch at Manchester City’s Etihad Stadium in December, they looked ill-prepared for a Champions League showdown […]

When Tottenham trudged disconsolately off the pitch at Manchester City’s Etihad Stadium in December, they looked ill-prepared for a Champions League showdown with Juventus.

Mauricio Pochettino’s side were thoroughly outclassed in the 4-1 defeat, with right-back Kieran Trippier enduring a particularly chastening evening against Leroy Sane, repeatedly being beaten one on one, inside and out.

There was some surprise that Pochettino declined to substitute the struggling England international and introduce the pacier Serge Aurier instead.

“I’m one of those guys who’s honest, and it obviously wasn’t the best day for me,” says Trippier frankly. “City were unbelievable that day.”

At the time, few Tottenham supporters would have relished the prospect of seeing the dizzy defender up against Juventus’ Brazilian winger Douglas Costa. Yet a few months on, the picture is rather different.

Spurs are undefeated in their 17 matches since that trip to the Etihad, and Trippier has similarly recovered well from his ordeal in Manchester.

Back in form

The 27-year-old started all three of the back-to-back Premier League clashes against Manchester United, Liverpool and Arsenal, lining up against Alexis Sanchez, Sadio Mane and Henrikh Mkhitaryan – and he more than held his own as Spurs kept two clean sheets while banking seven points from a possible nine.

He has continued to go from strength to strength and was one of the star performers in last Wednesday’s 6-1 FA Cup victory over Rochdale, winning a penalty. Pochettino opted for Aurier when Spurs travelled to Turin for the first leg of their Champions League last-16 duel with Juventus.

However, he perhaps regretted that decision as the Ivorian produced an error-strewn display, conceding a brainless penalty after fouling the dangerous Costa from behind and then picking up a booking which ruled him out of the second leg.

The result is that Trippier is now set to start his first ever Champions League knockout tie tomorrow/on Wednesday night, attempting to shackle Costa as Spurs go into their home leg with a slender advantage, having drawn 2-2 in Italy.

He may be getting his place in the line-up by default, but he will still believe he has earned it. And he feels his experience against Sane, with the analysis that followed, has helped him to improve and ready himself for the challenge ahead.

“I made quite a few mistakes that day against City and you can only learn,” says Trippier. “I’m still quite young so I’m willing to learn from the manager or from players.

Matured

“Since I’ve been here I think I’ve matured as a player, and working for this manager, his man management is unbelievable.

“Players have off days and I had an off day in that game. All you can do is look back and take lessons from where you went wrong, look at what you could have done better, and that’s what I did.

“I watched the game back a couple of times. We spoke about it as players as well.

“I’ve had a lot of games since then to build my confidence back up. It was good that I got the three games under my belt against United, Liverpool and Arsenal to build my momentum.

“Going into those games, like the north London derby and United, you want to play because they’re massive. We got good results and it builds confidence, and you move on.”

Pochettino has picked Trippier and Aurier in alternate matches for the last month, giving the pair four starts each. And, although the Argentinian has no selection dilemma tomorrow, he will have to decide who faces Chelsea and Man City in April.

Whatever happens, Trippier insists he has a healthy relationship with his rival, as he did with Kyle Walker.

Different abilities

“Walks and I had different abilities, and it’s the same with Serge,” he says. “If he plays or I play, like it was when Walks was here, we’re always encouraging each other.

“I played last week [against Rochdale] and Serge was in the [Whatsapp] group messaging me good luck, and that’s how it is really.”

Tottenham have been underdogs for the majority of their Champions League campaign, ever since they were placed in a group alongside Real Madrid and Borussia Dortmund.

They certainly seemed to be up against it when they fell 2-0 behind early on against Juventus in Turin. But, after fighting back and scoring two away goals, they are now on top in the tie.

It is a relatively new situation for them and, as Harry Kane points out, it comes with a new pressure.

“We probably weren’t the favourites before but people are looking at us after that performance at Juventus and saying we should go through now,” he says. “We’ve got to cope with that and see how we come through it.

“They’re still one of the best teams in Europe. They’ve probably been in this situation before and they’ve got very experienced players. We’re not getting carried away.

“We know we played well out there and on another day we could have won, but they’ll feel they could play better as well.

Pressure

“We know it’s a big game. Champions League nights are what we all want to be involved in, and this is a chance to get into the quarter-finals. Of course there’ll be a bit more added pressure and maybe more nerves, but that’s why we play football.

“We’re in great form and have played against a lot of great teams recently and done well. It’s important we carry that on. Going through would give us a lot more confidence.”

A goalless 90 minutes would secure Spurs’ place in the last eight, as would a 1-1 draw, but Kane says the north Londoners have little intention of sitting back and fighting a rearguard action from the start.

“The way we play and the way the manager sets us up in every game, we’re always on the front foot, always pressing, always playing attacking football,” he says. “I know that’s what he’ll say on Wednesday and we’ll try to win the game.

“We know they need to score but we can’t go into the game with any negative thoughts. We’ve got to try and win.

“If it gets to 80 minutes and it’s still 0-0 then we might have a different approach but from the start we’ll press high and try to create as many chances as possible.

“We’ve had some great results here at Wembley in recent weeks and the fans have been great. It’s going to be a full house and the atmosphere is amazing once we get going. Hopefully they can cheer us on and make it difficult for them.”