Mauricio Pochettino has hailed the Tottenham Hotspur supporters who travelled to Milton Keynes after his side’s Carabao Cup victory over Watford.
Despite that inconvenience, the official attendance was given as 23,650.
“First of all I want to say thank you to our fans,” said Pochettino. “They need to be praised from myself on behalf of all the players and staff and the club, to say thank you for coming here and offering their support. They made a massive effort.
“It’s important for the people all to listen to me, as the manager of the club, to that gratitude and [for us] to say thank you very much, and then to say thank you to all the town of Milton Keynes and the club, because they welcomed us in a very good way. They helped us in everything.
“We’ll see [if we’ll be back here again]. Now we’ll see what happens in the draw. The objective was to go to the next round and we are so happy of course.
“It was through penalties but it was fantastic to get the positive result after the victory in Brighton. We’re so happy to get another victory in a different competition.
“We’ve played eight games — six Premier League games, one in the Carabao Cup and another in the Champions League. We’ve play six away — two at Wembley — and on Saturday we play at Huddersfield.
“I think we need to say too that the effort of the team is fantastic, to play a lot of games away from home. It’s important to tell you and you tell our fans that the effort we are doing, with the fans, is fantastic for the club.”
Former MK Dons midfielder Dele Alli captained Spurs on his return to Stadium MK and enjoyed a dream night, scoring an equalising penalty during normal time and then netting the winning spot-kick during the shootout.
“I gave him the armband because I think it was so exciting for him to play here in his own town, in Milton Keynes,” said Pochettino. “It’s difficult [for him] to have another possibility to play here in his career in the future, and today I wanted to provide him with a very good feeling, to not only play but to feel that.
“He was inspired by the occasion, to play here. He was so excited. The energy in the previous day was amazing. When we arrived here he was so open to help everyone.
“We can feel here the love that the people feel for him and that was fantastic for us. For him it is an experience he will remember for all of his life.
“To be Tottenham captain and score two goals is a fantastic night for him.”
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