LONDON -- Tottenham Hotspur manager Mauricio Pochettino has rubbished suggestions the club could return to White Hart Lane for Europa League matches, insisting the players must make Wembley Stadium "feel like home."
Tuesday's 2-1 defeat at Monaco eliminated Spurs from the Champions League but they will drop into the Europa League if they avoid defeat against CSKA Moscow in next month's final group game at England's national stadium.
Spurs midfielder Moussa Sissoko said he would prefer to return to White Hart Lane for the Europa League but Pochettino said he had personally intervened to ensure Spurs remain at the 90,000-seater venue, where they have lost their last six matches.
Asked about Sissoko's comments, Pochettino told a news conference: "The players need to be focused to play. Talk on the pitch is the most important. The decision is the club's: the chairman, the board and us [coaching staff] or me, in this case.
"If we are in the Europa League, we will play at Wembley and then we need to make Wembley our home. It's a good opportunity to play the next games at Wembley in the Europa League because next season we need to play 19 games, and cups and European competition.
"We need to make Wembley our home and that's a great opportunity to play. I don't know where that rumour started. Never, never. We will play at Wembley."
White Hart Lane does not meet UEFA requirements for Champions League matches but the governing body has a different set of regulations for the Europa League, meaning Spurs could feasibly ask to return to White Hart Lane.
Spurs will play all their home matches, domestic and European, at Wembley next season and Pochettino made it clear that a motivation to end Spurs' hoodoo there was a factor in staying put.
"For me, it's a big motivation. In football you always look forward, you cannot stop to complain or blame. You stop to analyse and be calm when you assess the team and the players to take good decisions for the future and to improve," he continued.
"For me, I'm looking forward to trying to get more possibilities to play at Wembley and that it starts to feel like home for the players and the team. That is the most important, because the new stadium is coming and we need to move to Wembley next season.
"We cannot complain next season. We need to starting thinking of Wembley as our home and avoid all of the negative things about Wembley. I don't think it will help us today or in the future."