LEVERKUSEN -- Mauricio Pochettino was happy with a draw from Tuesday's 0-0 Champions League draw against Bayer Leverkusen but admitted Tottenham had the "brilliant" Hugo Lloris to thank for a point in Germany.
Spurs had the better of the first-half, with Vincent Janssen having a goal disallowed and hitting the crossbar, and Dele Alli and Erik Lamela missing good chances.
Leverkusen were much improved after the interval and Lloris made a string of fine saves, including a spectacular one-handed stop on the goal-line to deny Javier Hernandez.
"I can only say good things about him. He's a fantastic goalkeeper, one of the best in the world," Spurs manager Pochettino said after the match.
"Today in the second half, he was brilliant again. It doesn't change my opinion about him. He's one of the best in the world.
"His behaviour, in every action, shows he's one of the best, top quality. He's in the best moment in his career. It's always important to have a keeper like him.
"In the first-half we were better and second-half they were better than us and some brilliance from our keeper kept us in the game. It's a strong point, we need to feel pleased. When you analyse the game, the point is important and we need to be happy with that."
Pochettino described the match as a "must win" on Monday but, although he again said Spurs need to be more clinical, he was satisfied with a point, which leaves Spurs second in Group E after CSKA Moscow and Monaco drew 1-1 in Russia.
"We are still in the same position as before because of the draw between CSKA and Monaco. We are still fighting and we will need to keep fighting until the final game because it is a very competitive group," Pochettino said.
Asked about his wonder-save, Lloris said: "That's a technology decision. Listen, you need a bit of luck in that kind of action. This time I could save this goal. It's important. It's a key moment but it's not the only one. I prefer to be more positive because I think we did a great job altogether.
"The defence was strong, the midfield too. They contributed to get the point. I think we can congratulate everyone because we suffered a lot in the second half but we stayed strong and we did not concede this goal. Let's see what will happen in two weeks. It was a tough day.
"We should have scored in the first half and the game would have been much different."
This was the first time in 17 attempts that Leverkusen had kept a clean sheet against English opposition in the Champions League. Roger Schmidt's side are left playing catch-up in the group, however, as they sit third, with only three points taken at the half-way stage.
"We're aiming for consistency but we have to recognise that we're playing against a top opponent in Tottenham, who were nearly champions last year and could well be champions this year," Schmidt said.
"We could have won any of our three games. I wouldn't say I'm really disappointed -- we had chances to win all of the games.
"I don't think we have to win at Tottenham, but we can, and that's the opportunity we must make the most of."