Real Madrid have reacted angrily to Mauricio Pochettino suggesting
they turned down a request from Tottenham to stay at their training ground next
week ahead of the Champions League final against Liverpool.
Spurs will train at Valdebebas on Thursday and Friday before
the game on Saturday and Pochettino, in an interview with Spanish radio station
Cadena Cope said the club had asked Madrid if they could also sleep on the
site.
In a light-hearted part of the interview, Pochettino was
asked if Tottenham’s players would also stay at Valdedebas. Pochettino replied:
“No, we will stay in a hotel near there. We have asked eh? We have asked but
Florentino (Perez) didn’t want to allow us.”
A laughing Pochettino then added: “He would say, ‘the day
you coach Madrid is when you can sleep there’. This is the subliminal message
no?”
Real Madrid released a statement on Friday, insisting they
had received no such request from Tottenham.
The statement read: “Real Madrid is surprised by the
suggestions made by Tottenham Hotspur coach Mauricio Pochettino about a
supposed request made to our club asking that his team could stay at the Ciudad
de Real Madrid before the final of the Champions League.
“Real Madrid wants to make it clear it is completely false
that this request occurred. Our club has always shown its absolute availability
to meet all the requests made by UEFA, the Spanish Football Federation,
Atletico Madrid, Liverpool, and Tottenham Hotspur.
“All requests submitted to Real Madrid have referred only
and exclusively to the use of the training pitches of the Ciudad de Real Madrid
and its changing rooms. And all of them have been granted by our club.”
The statement added: “Real Madrid also wants to emphasise
the accommodation of the Champions League finalists are assigned by UEFA
depending on organisation and security. And that at no time has our club been
asked to accommodate them in the facilities of the Ciudad de Real Madrid.”
Pochettino was heavily linked with the vacant position of
Real Madrid coach last season when Julen Lopetegui and then Santiago Solari
were sacked.
Asked about taking charge of Madrid in the future,
Pochettino said, “I have no other goals than to coach Tottenham, I don’t allow
myself to think about the long-term.”
Liverpool will also use Real Madrid’s training ground on the
morning of the final, which will be played at Atletico Madrid’s stadium, the
Wanda Metropolitano.
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