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AFP
London
Jose Mourinho had his excuses ready made for a 1-0 home defeat to RB Leipzig that leaves Tottenham needing to recreate their escape acts of last season to progress to the Champions League quarter-finals.
Already without Harry Kane due to a long-term hamstring injury, the news that Son Heung-min could miss the rest of the season with a fractured right arm on Tuesday was a body blow to Spurs’ chances of progressing.
“It’s like going to a gun fight without bullets, so we did what we could do,” concluded Mourinho, who bristled at criticism of his set up.
As the Portuguese complained about his lack of resources, it was easy to forget that Leipzig were the novices at this stage of the competition.
“What I am worried with is not with the 1-0 because the 1-0 is an open result. The 1-0 you can perfectly go there and win the tie,” added Mourinho.
“What worries me is that these are our players for I don’t know how many matches. We have to play in two days again. We could see Lucas (Moura) absolutely dead, (Steven) Bergwijn absolutely dead, (Giovani) Lo Celso dead.”
Given his paucity of options up front, Mourinho needs to get the best from those he does have. However, Dele Alli stormed off when he was replaced 20 minutes from time and slammed his boots down in the dugout.
“I think he was angry with his performance, not with me,” insisted Mourinho. “I think he understood why I took him off and the team improved.”
Mourinho needs to get Alli back onside and back to the form of his early weeks in charge at Spurs if they are to make it back into the competition next season.
London
Jose Mourinho had his excuses ready made for a 1-0 home defeat to RB Leipzig that leaves Tottenham needing to recreate their escape acts of last season to progress to the Champions League quarter-finals.
Already without Harry Kane due to a long-term hamstring injury, the news that Son Heung-min could miss the rest of the season with a fractured right arm on Tuesday was a body blow to Spurs’ chances of progressing.
“It’s like going to a gun fight without bullets, so we did what we could do,” concluded Mourinho, who bristled at criticism of his set up.
As the Portuguese complained about his lack of resources, it was easy to forget that Leipzig were the novices at this stage of the competition.
“What I am worried with is not with the 1-0 because the 1-0 is an open result. The 1-0 you can perfectly go there and win the tie,” added Mourinho.
“What worries me is that these are our players for I don’t know how many matches. We have to play in two days again. We could see Lucas (Moura) absolutely dead, (Steven) Bergwijn absolutely dead, (Giovani) Lo Celso dead.”
Given his paucity of options up front, Mourinho needs to get the best from those he does have. However, Dele Alli stormed off when he was replaced 20 minutes from time and slammed his boots down in the dugout.
“I think he was angry with his performance, not with me,” insisted Mourinho. “I think he understood why I took him off and the team improved.”
Mourinho needs to get Alli back onside and back to the form of his early weeks in charge at Spurs if they are to make it back into the competition next season.
