Mauricio Pochettino has claimed that teams on the continent are now beginning to respect Tottenham Hotspur due to a string of impressive results in this season's Champions League.
The Lilywhites accrued more points than any other side in the group stage, despite being handed a tough draw alongside Borussia Dortmund and back-to-back winners Real Madrid, as well as Cypriot champions APOEL.
Spurs then recovered to produce a composed display in Turin three weeks ago when recording a 2-2 draw with Juventus in the first leg of their last-16 tie, having trailed by a couple of goals inside the opening 10 minutes at the Allianz Stadium.
After remaining unbeaten in their seven European fixtures thus far in 2017-18, Pochettino believes that his side have proved they can more than hold their own against the best sides the world has to offer.
"In Europe, the people start to respect more of Tottenham, they respect our football, our philosophy," he said at his pre-match presser. "We try to develop good football, the football that we love and we feel we have the respect - the brand of football we show, they respect us.
"We need to fight with these big sides [who are] on another level but trying to be competitive with different tools. I know one day to win one title will be fantastic for everyone and means a lot because if we are going to take a trophy in this way, it will be completely different to the others [teams], and of course the players will be heroes because when you compete with these big sides [it's] always difficult to beat them.
"But we show in the last few seasons we are competitive, of course the faith, the belief that is so important in the group, in a club that wants to compete with different tools than another."
Spurs are unbeaten in seven home matches against Italian opposition and have lost just four of 16 overall.
Daniel Lewis
