Tottenham Hotspur return to Wembley on Wednesday night to face Bayer Leverkusen in the Champions League.

Tottenham currently sit in second in their group but with only one place between each team in Group E one result could easily change that.

Spurs suffered a loss to Monaco in their last home game of the competition before picking up a win in Russia against CSKA Moscow and a draw against Bayer in Germany.

Important to win

Mauricio Pochettino has expressed his belief that it’s very important that the team understand how crucial the game is. The Argentine commented that the mentality of the players is “important” due to the fact that this “game will be key” to Spurs’ Champions League campaign. 

Pochettino added that, “it’s very important to win the game, to take the three points but in the same way we understand that Bayer Leverkusen are a very good team”. He continued to add that; “we need to take the three points if we are to go to the next round."  Spurs currently sit in second place in their group with only one point between them and Leverkusen who sit in third.

Wembley was not the problem against Monaco

Tottenham return to the national stadium for the second time in their group after their last two games have been away fixtures. In their opening fixture with Monacom, Tottenham suffered a 2-1 loss. 

Pochettino commented that the problem for Tottenham was not the approach but rather that “the game was difficult from the beginning” as the team “made mistakes” and so allowed Monaco to score. He continued to add that “these are things that can happen in football but we cannot blame Wembley”. Speaking about how Tottenham can improve from their last experience he suggested that, “we need to play with intensity from the first moment of the game. “

Pochettino however did allude to the fact that playing at Wembley could be motivation to their opposition. He referred to his own experiences as a player commenting that “to come here to England an play at Wembley was a fantastic experience” But Pochettino also added that his players should also use it as motivation and to “inspire us because there are 90,000 people that support us and are behind us.” The manager continued to add that “it has to be a problem for our opponent” and that it is the “responsibility [of the players] to create that atmosphere”.