Harry Kane can still make impact for Spurs from bench in Champions League final, says Mauricio Pochettino

Mauricio Pochettino wants his Tottenham Hotspur players to be honest about their fitness ahead of the Champions League final against Liverpool next Saturday, telling Harry Kane that he can still make an impact from the bench in the all-Premier League game in Madrid.

His leading goalscorer is a serious doubt for the game, in a race to recover from an ankle injury sustained in the quarter-final first leg against Manchester City, and there are question marks over the fitness of Harry Winks – and to a lesser extent defender Jan Vertonghen.

The Spurs manager says that he will insist that convention is broken with a pre-match on-field picture before the game of the entire squad and not just the XI who are selected to ensure that the credit is shared when history records the game. It was a change he insisted on when he was a player with Espanyol before the 2006 Copa del Rey final against Real Zaragoza having been uncomfortable in the past with only the first XI being featured.

Pochettino said “In [2006] in the Bernabeu we did that. I was one of the captains and I said, ‘I want everyone to be in the picture. This [whole] team won the final, not only XI. That is completely unfair’. Maybe people are not in their best but they want to be in the final because they want to be in the picture just in case they win and then you have to make a substitution if there is a problem.

“If you avoid that and you say, ‘Hey, [we want to feature] the whole squad’ you’re all going to be in the history then. People care a lot about that. The players care more than we believe. When I was a player I always fought with the organisation and the club to say, ‘Hey, I don’t want the XI, I want the 25’. And the same now I’m a manager.”

Pochettino said that Kane could play just as important a part coming off the bench. Asked what state of fitness the 25-year-old has achieved, Pochettino said: “We are happy. We are going to assess him like any other player, like Jan, Harry Winks. Of course, the most important thing is that they are available. To play from the beginning or be on the bench and help the team. Because the most important thing in a final is not always the starting XI, maybe people from the bench come on and be the hero. There are a lot of examples of this.”

Still without a major trophy as a manager, Pochettino said that the Champions League and the Premier League were always his priority as a manager and downplayed the importance of FA Cups and League Cups. “Look at the effect of being in the final,” he said. “Do you think the fans think it is the same impact as winning the FA Cup or Carabao Cup?

He challenged his players and staff to go one step further and win the only trophy Spurs have never won before. He said: "Now it’s about touching the glory. The only way that the players and coaching staff can touch the glory is not by sleeping in the lodge [the new hotel facilities at the training ground] or playing in the best stadium in the world. It’s by winning titles.”

“We are working not to play the Champions League and to be competitive. We are talking about and working to win. Because I think the final is not about to play. It’s about winning. We are working so hard to try to arrive there.”