Mauricio Pochettino has admitted that it is helpful for Tottenham Hotspur to play European games at Wembley in the present campaign ahead of a full season at the venue next term.
Spurs, who will play Gent at Wembley in a Europa League Round of 32 second leg clash this evening, are building a brand new stadium adjacent to their current ground, White Hart Lane.
As a result, Tottenham are playing their European games at Wembley this season as White Hart Lane fails to meet UEFA’s requirements on stadium access, capacity and rights delivery as a result.
With the new stadium set to be completed by the start of the 2018/19 campaign, the north London outfit are also eligible to play all their European and domestic games at Wembley next season.
And Pochettino, whose side lost 1-0 to Gent in the first leg last week, feels it is a great opportunity for Tottenham to become accustomed to playing at Wembley, with the national stadium scheduled to be their home ground in all competitions next term.
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“Yes, for us it’s a great opportunity”, he said in a press conference, when asked if it is helpful for you and the players to continue playing games at Wembley ahead of a full season there.
“Next season it will be tough to play every game there, we need to make Wembley home and that’s important for us.
“The last game against CSKA in the Champions League was good for us – we played well and we started to feel better but it’s true that the first two games we played in the Champions League we didn’t play well but it wasn’t because of Wembley.
“It’s true that when you play regularly you start to feel like it’s your home and for us it’s perfect to play there because next season we will play many games there.
“It’s not confirmed but we all hope that we will play next season at Wembley.
"That will show very clearly that we are very close to finishing our stadium.”
Tottenham managed to win just one of their three Champions League group stage games at Wembley this season, losing the other two.
