Things we learnt from Tottenham, Ajax clash

London. Ajax beat Tottenham 1-0 in the Champions League semi-final first leg on Tuesday.

Here AFP Sport looks at three things we learned from the clash at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium:

Pochettino comes back down to earth

Speaking ahead of the first leg, Tottenham boss Mauricio Pochettino challenged his players to “set your dreams to infinity and beyond” as he looked to lead the club to their first European Cup final.

But Pochettino’s amusing decision to reference the catchphrase of Toy Story character Buzz Lightyear wasn’t the most significant of his pre-match comments.

Complaining about Tottenham having to play West Ham on Saturday while Ajax benefitted from having their domestic match postponed, Pochettino admitted his players looked “stressed and fatigued” during the 1-0 defeat against West Ham.

Spurs lack cutting edge

With top goalscorer Harry Kane injured and South Korea forward Son Heung-min suspended, Tottenham were painfully short of quality up front.

Kane and Son were watching from the stands as Brazilian Lucas Moura started alongside Fernando Llorente in Tottenham’s attack.

But neither understudy was able to do a convincing imitation of their absent team-mates and Tottenham were fatally undermined as a result.

Ajax young guns show their class

Ajax are four-time European champions with a rich history of producing some of the continent’s finest players and, on the evidence of this mature display, their latest crop of wonderkids are worthy successors to Johan Cruyff, Marco van Basten, Patrick Kluivert and Dennis Bergkamp.

The average age of Ajax’s starting eleven this season is 24 years.(AFP)

and 257 days, with their line-up against Tottenham the youngest of any Champions League semi-finalist for the last six years.

The introduction of Moussa Sissoko as Vertonghen’s replacement gave Tottenham more bite, but it wasn’t enough to stop the north Londoners crashing back down to earth. (AFP)