Mauricio Pochettino insists Champions League remains the priority for Tottenham ahead of FA Cup clash

Mauricio Pochettino has spoken of his desperation to end Tottenham’s decade-long trophy drought, though the FA Cup remains down the pecking order of importance with the Champions League the top goal for all involved at the club.

Tottenham have not won any silverware since 2008 but are now just four wins away from lifting the FA Cup. They will be strong favourites to move closer to ending their long wait by beating League One strugglers Rochdale in the fifth-round tomorrow.

Pochettino, it seems, has bigger fish to fry, with the Champions League comeback draw against Juventus earlier on Tuesday still clearly at the forefront of his mind.

“Do we want to win trophies? Of course," he said. “We want to win trophies and celebrate with our fans.

"But I hear a lot about winning trophies and in the last 10 years there has been a lot of examples with coaches who have won trophies like the FA Cup, the Carabao Cup and yet six months later they were sacked.

“We need to think about winning big trophies like the Champions League. The pressure is to win the Champions League and also the Premier League.

“To win some domestic titles is very good for us and would be fantastic for us and would be fantastic for our fans. But really nothing changes. People have been calling me from Argentina and everywhere and saying 'Wow, Tottenham, Tottenham, Tottenham.”

In a week where they have won the north London derby and held Juventus, Pochettino will make sweeping changes for the somewhat less glamorous setting of Spotland.

That has been made easier with the Lancashire club relaying their sub-standard pitch, forcing Pochettino into issuing a grovelling apology after initially sparking safety fears over whether their surface was suitable.

Pochettino had urged the Football Association to step in and intervene, leading to a pitch row erupting over his comment.

The Tottenham manager said: “I want to apologise to the people in Rochdale and the chairman and the people who took my comment the wrong way.

"My comment was about the care, first of all the players of Rochdale, our players and the competition that all of England watches on TV.

"After the replay against Newport, I was with my coaching staff and they showed me a picture from Rochdale's pitch after the Millwall tie and the pitch was not in a great condition.

"The conditions are fantastic so I congratulate them. The effort was massive and I apologise if someone took my words in the wrong way.

"Our performance will dictate who is going through to the next stage."