Jermaine Jenas believes Tottenham have a golden chance to win this season's Champions League, but he fears Mauricio Pochettino's players lack the inner belief to succeed against the game's serial winners.
Manchester City's quest for a quadruple this season will continue when they travel to Tottenham Hotspur Stadium for the first leg of their Champions League quarter-final on Tuesday night, with Jenas suggesting Spurs could end their drive for a place in history by halting Pep Guardiola’s side’s hopes of European glory.
Yet, despite his optimism for his former club, BT Sport pundit Jenas believes Pochettino's players have yet to confirm they can deliver when the pressure is on in the biggest competition of them all.
"Tottenham could win the Champions League this season, but they will have to answer some big questions if they are going to get close to achieving that," Jenas told Goal.
"They are only a couple of wins and a couple of draws away from the final, but only if they start playing to their potential again. If they can get back on form, this is the season to have a go at the Champions League as there are no outstanding teams in the competition this season.
"Liverpool were the team everyone in Europe feared a couple of months ago, but they are off the boil, even though they keep winning matches without playing too well.
"City look like a different team in the Champions League and conceded far too many goals and, with some of the big European teams like Real Madrid and Bayern Munich no longer the force they once were, an opportunity is there for a team like Tottenham to have a real go at this competition.
"To do that, they need to believe in themselves and seize the big moments when they come along. Players like Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi know how to seize that moment and always stand up when it matters. Now we have to see whether Tottenham's players are ready to rise to that challenge."
Pochettino stated last month that Tottenham may be up to 10 years away from winning the Premier League title, despite several encouraging challenges for the biggest prize in English football in recent years, with Jenas suggesting those words were designed to stir a reaction from his players.
"People are asking whether those comments mean he wants to be there for 10 years to make it matter or is he saying he doesn't want to wait that long to win something, but I just think it was a very clear message to his players to step up and prove they can be winners," added Jenas.
"If you go over some of Mauricio's comments over the last year or so, you'll find some odd ones in there. What I think these comments are all about is getting a message to his players, as he feels they are not sensing the moments when they need to put the foot down and make a statement.
"The message he gave to his players ahead of their game at Burnley a few weeks back was this is a cup final and that was a clear effort to get his players up for that game. They had a chance to get into the mix for the Premier League title in that game and Pochettino wanted his players to realise how high the stakes were.
"It didn't work because they lost 2-1 at Turf Moor and you could see how much it got to him as he confronted the match officials after the game and ended up getting a touchline ban for his troubles.
"He wanted to get the point across and his players didn't respond. Some of their performances this season have befitted a team that are destined to finish third or fourth and he wants more than that, but do these Tottenham players have the ability or the mental strength to give him what he wants?
"I think they do and, if I'm being honest, I just think they have massively over-achieved this season and that's why I think this criticism is a little bit harsh. They have stumbled across a position in the league that meant they suddenly had a chance to compete with Liverpool and Manchester City, but they don't seem to be able to do that at this moment.
"If you put the value of their first XI together, it would not be far behind the best teams in Europe. People say Tottenham haven't spent the money, but on any given weekend, they could have Danny Rose, Erik Lamela, Eric Dier, Victor Wanyama on the bench and not many teams have that much quality in reserve."
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