At the end a shell-shocked Mauricio Pochettino turned on his heel and marched straight down the tunnel. He disappeared as quickly as Tottenham Hotspur’s chances as they went from cruising to a place in the quarter-finals of the Champions League to crashing out against Juventus. Two minutes and 49 seconds of madness did for them. It was enough for the world-class performers such as Gonzalo Higuain and Paulo Dybala to deliver the goals that conveyed, another Argentinian, Pochettino, and Spurs out of Europe.

Passionately built this young side, Pochettino saw Spurs go all ‘Spursy’ at the worst possible time with a collective brain-fade. He will stand ­accused of failing to react to a tactical switch by Juventus coach Massimiliano Allegri after the hour-mark, when the Italian brought on Stephan Lichtsteiner, pushed his full-backs up and saw his side score twice.

Over the two legs Spurs were undeniably the better side, even though they were facing last season’s highly experienced finalists and the Serie A champions, but they were undone by a desperately poor 12 minutes, nine minutes when they conceded twice in the first leg before impressively drawing 2-2, and the three minutes here.

Two quick goals from Paulo Dybala and Gonzalo Higuaín had put Juventus ahead, but this felt like the time when Tottenham’s youthful vibrancy would be vindicated: When the legs were tired and the minds drained, Juventus would surely break. Spurs would score, extra time would ensue, and the young would vanquish the old.