Premier League or Champions League title will take Spurs to ´different level´ – Pochettino

Mauricio Pochettino insisted only winning the Premier League or the Champions League will take Tottenham to a “different level”, not the FA Cup ahead of their semi-final showdown with Manchester United.

Pochettino’s Tottenham and United will do battle at Wembley on Saturday for a place in the FA Cup final, against either Chelsea or Southampton.

Spurs – third in the Premier League standings – have not claimed silverware since hoisting the EFL Cup trophy aloft in 2008, while they last won the FA Cup in 1991.

However, Pochettino played down the importance of winning the FA Cup in Tottenham’s bid to establish themselves among Europe’s elite.

“People sometimes have short memories. When we arrived here four years ago, all people were talking about was reducing the gap to the top four and the challenge was to play in the Champions League. Remember your questions?” Pochettino told reporters.

“It was if we are not capable to play Champions League or in Europe — first of all, it was in Europe — how can we retain our best players? And then how can we attract good players?

“And then we move on, and move on, and go higher and higher and now, it’s to win [a trophy]. But I promise you the club is not going to change if you win or don’t win the FA Cup or the Capital One [League Cup].

“It would be fantastic to add a trophy to the club but what would put us to a different level would be to win the Premier League or Champions League. That is going to put you in a different level.

“People love to talk about perception and changing perceptions. After a good Champions League group stage — we beat Dortmund, Real Madrid and we competed very well against Juventus [in the round-of-16] — the dimension of the club around the world changes completely. But in the end, we still need to improve and improve.”