Tottenham Hotspur boss Mauricio Pochettino believes Manchester City’s real strength lies in their desire to match opposing sides, ahead of the meeting between the two sides in the Champions League.
Spurs, who returned to winning ways in the Premier League against Crystal Palace during their inaugural game at their new stadium, will next host Manchester City in the first leg of their Champions League quarter-final tie on Tuesday.
The north Londoners have reached the last eight of the elite European competition for only the second time in their history and will be eyeing handing a blow to Manchester City and their impressive run in all competitions this term.
Ahead of their highly anticipated Champions League clash at the new stadium, Pochettino feels Manchester City’s real strength lies with their desire to match any opposing side for desire.
The Spurs boss insisted his team must run and fight for every single ball like their counterparts, if they are to stand a chance of beating the Premier League champions.
“The first thing you need to do is run, to fight”, Pochettino said in a press conference.
“[Kevin] De Bruyne, David Silva, Bernardo Silva, [Raheem] Sterling, [Gabriel] Jesus, [Sergio] Aguero, players who before they start to play, they run and press and are aggressive.
"They fight for every single ball. Today that is football.
“The strength of City is not their quality – it's first of all their desire and their will to fight and to match all opponents.
“And then because they have unbelievable quality, they can win more games than they lose.”
Tottenham are set to lock horns with Manchester City on three separate occasions over the next couple of weeks.
