MAURICIO POCHETTINO IS anticipating a “sad but exciting” occasion on Sunday as Tottenham prepare to run out at White Hart Lane for the final time.
The visit of Manchester United marks Spurs’ last match at the famous old ground before they depart for a new stadium next door, although Wembley will be their home in 2017-18.
During his playing career, Pochettino was involved in the final match at Espanyol’s Sarria Stadium, and the Argentinian is ready to embrace what promises to be an emotionally charged atmosphere on Sunday.
“I think it will be special, first of all for the fans, the staff, the players, everyone who loves Tottenham,” he said. “But at the same time it will be exciting because we’re all excited that the new stadium is coming.
The most important thing is the soul of White Hart Lane and the smell, we’ll keep there. With the new era and the new stadium come different expectations, but it’s most important that in our memory will be at White Hart Lane behind us, and the soul and the smell.
“It will be sad on Sunday but it will be exciting too to welcome the new era of Tottenham, the new stadium of course.
“I was so lucky because I played the last game at Espanyol’s Sarria Stadium. After 80 years it was demolished. They are the stadiums that are so special because you can feel the history, smell the history.
“It’s so difficult to describe the feeling when you’re there. These type of stadiums are so difficult to describe the feeling and emotion.
“When you knock down the stadium and must move to another area, always it’s so difficult because your habit is always to take the same route, go to the same shops. But now you don’t change anything because the new stadium will be at the same place as White Hart Lane. It will be fantastic for our fans.”
Asked if he would claim a memento from the ground, Pochettino was non-committal, but rejected the idea of taking the manager’s seat for fear of upsetting his wife.
“We’ll see. I am a person that never decides many things before. I act with my emotion. We will see. If I feel something is special and I need to take it and keep it in my house, of course I will do.
“No, it [the seat] is so big. I will have a big problem with my wife!”
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