Mauricio Pochettino had spent the previous evening exchanging gifts and good wishes with those from the land of his fathers.
The mayor of Virle Piemonte was down at the team hotel, bestowing upon the Tottenham manager an honorary citizenship and handing over a framed aerial photograph of the small town, south-west of Turin.
The mayor’s deputy tagged along, too, and he was a Pochettino himself, by the name of Daniele and a distant relative of the clan which had set sail for new frontiers in 1867.
Pochettino spoke of his spiritual connection to a region he had never visited before and gave them a signed copy of his book, which reflects his rural upbringing on a farm in Murphy, Argentina, and a Spurs shirt.