Tottenham Hotspur manager, Mauricio Pochettino, has admitted he will be haunted forever, by the two biggest disappointments of his career.

The first was at the 2002 World Cup, when he gave away the penalty for a foul on Michael Owen, which led to England dumping Argentina out during the group stage.

The second was in June, when Tottenham lost the Champions League final.

When asked why he does not look happy this season, the former Argentina defender told the UK Mirror: “It’s not like this. I explain why – in football I suffered two big disappointments.

“One when I was a player and there was the penalty at the World Cup. It was always my dream to play in a World Cup, my massive, big dream. OK, we played three games and went home.

“We went there unbeaten, a candidate to win the trophy and went home in the Group stage. I stayed at home and didn’t go out for 10 days.

“Another day was with Tottenham to win a trophy and the closest to win a trophy was of course the Champions League and it was made even bigger because it was the Champions League.

“To achieve the final of the Champions League with Tottenham – no-one expected that. It was more than a dream, more than a dream.

“In that moment I felt disappointed and then I took a train, after the train, to Barcelona and again you feel like you are depressed.

“In your mind, you expect to move on after a week and say ‘I want to, again, be there.’ You cannot be happy.

“Yes, we have some disagreements. But I am happy now because I am positive and this season is going to be another massive challenge.

“But we must have that energy to try to be contenders and try again to fight for big things and I’m going to try until the end.”