Mauricio Pochettino revelling in Champions League draw taking him back to family roots in Turin

Mauricio Pochettino is revelling in Tottenham Hotspur’s Champions League draw against Juventus because of his own family roots in Turin.

Spurs topped their group ahead of Real Madrid but received one of the toughest draws possible on Monday as they were picked out with last season’s finalists.

And while Pochettino is looking forward to testing his team against another of Europe’s elite after seeing off Madrid, the tie has added significance given his family originates from Turin, prior to their immigration to South America.

He said: “It's fantastic because my family came from Italy, from Turin — unbelievable!”

“It's a city and a club I've always wanted to play and it's now fantastic to be going to the city of Turin to play against Juventus.

“It's so important to be competitive and we've shown we can do that, we've shown we can deal with the pressure of the Champions League.

“This will be a different game to Real Madrid and it's so exciting to play Juventus.”