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Pochettino, Kane proud of Tottenham despite conceding title to Leicester

Reuters

Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochettino said his side learned a lesson Monday when Chelsea came back to draw Spurs 2-2 and eliminate them from title contention.

There was still, however, pride from the Argentinian manager.

Tottenham had built a 2-0 lead at Stamford Bridge to seemingly delay the celebrations at Leicester City, but a second-half collapse ensured that the Premier League title would indeed reside in the East Midlands.

"First of all I congratulate Leicester and Claudio Ranieri and his players and supporters," Pochettino said after the match. "Disappointed because I thought we fought to be in the race. At 2-0 up in the first half, in the second half we have to counter and score the third, but this happens.

"When we conceded the first goal, anything can happen. Very disappointed but at the same time very proud of my players."

Spurs lost their cool as the full-time whistle approached, and by the end of the night, they had become the first team in Premier League history to have nine players booked in a single game.

"It's football, we are men, they are men, we need to show we are strong. It was a good lesson for us. We are the youngest squad in the league," said the Argentine. "We feel very proud and our supporters need to feel proud too. We have massive potential for the future."

Harry Kane and Heung-Min Son scored the goals that gave Tottenham the advantage, but Gary Cahill and Eden Hazard responded in the second half to draw Chelsea level.

"We're gutted. We wanted to keep the pressure on, but we couldn't keep it going in the second half," said Kane, who became the first Spurs players to score 25 times in a Premier League season. "I'm so proud of this team. We've had an unbelievable season and we can only learn from the experience."

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