Manager Mauricio Pochettino has no regrets over fielding an understrength Tottenham Hotspur side in Thursday’s 3-0 Europa League defeat against Borussia Dortmund, a result that leaves the north London side on the brink of elimination.
In his 100th game in charge of Spurs, Pochettino made seven changes to the side from their Premier League draw with Arsenal on Saturday last week, with striker Harry Kane on the bench, while Eric Dier and Danny Rose were left out of the squad.
The Argentine’s decision to rotate backfired as Dortmund dominated the last-16 encounter and head into the second leg at White Hart Lane next week with a comfortable lead courtesy of two goals from Marco Reus and one by Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.
Photo: AP
Aubameyang’s headed opener — his 33rd goal of the season — was followed by a second-half double from Germany forward Reus. Dortmund, like Liverpool against Manchester United, should have won by more.
“No regrets. I’m very disappointed with the result, but we didn’t have a very good day,” Pochettino told reporters after the game.
“It was a bad day in the office,” he said.
“When we analyzed the squad and picked the starting 11, we tried to win the game. It started okay but it was a really bad day for us,” he said.
Spurs, who are second in the league, five points behind Leicester City, will look to get back to winning ways when they travel to face bottom-of-the-table Aston Villa tomorrow.
“I am not worried, I know the circumstances. We need to accept some periods during 10 months that we will have good and bad times. We have always had things good,” Pochettino said.
“We have a big challenge against Aston Villa on Sunday. We are in a very good position in the league and we will do our best,” he added.
In other Europa League games, Shakhtar Donetsk defeated RSC Anderlecht 3-1, while Villarreal beat Bayer 04 Leverkusen 2-0 at home.
Cedric Bakambu scored both of the goals for Villarreal, one of four Spanish teams in the last 16. Leverkusen midfielder Christoph Kramer, who was substituted in the 2014 World Cup final with a head injury and later said he could not remember that match, was carried off the field with an apparent concussion after getting hit in the head by a ball.
Athletic Bilbao beat Valencia 1-0 in an all-Spanish match, Fenerbahce won 1-0 at home against Braga, and defending champions Sevilla drew 0-0 against Basel.
AC Sparta Prague and SS Lazio drew 1-1.
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