Jose Mourinho launched a defiant defence of his injury-hit Tottenham side after they fell to a disappointing Champions League defeat against RB Leipzig on Wednesday night.
The north Londoners will again have to do it the hard way in the Champions League after they suffered a 1-0 home defeat in the first leg of their last-16 tie with RB Leipzig.
Spurs’ run to the final last season was full of great escapes and comeback wins and they will need another after Timo Werner’s second-half penalty gave the Bundesliga side a deserved win in their first ever knockout game in this competition.
Mourinho was without two of his best attacking players, with the loss Son Heung-min on the eve of the match adding to that of Harry Kane, while Erik Lamela – a second-half substitute – had been unable to train in the build-up to this defeat.
And during a tense post-match interview, Mourinho was asked whether the “real Spurs” only turned up after the second-half introductions of Lamela and Tanguy Ndombele, with the boss snapping back and launching an impassioned defence of his players.
(Image: REUTERS)
Full transcript
“What do you mean by the real Spurs? Come on, let’s be loyal to the boys and tell them they did everything they could do.
“Lamela [one of the substitutes] – you know how many training sessions with the team? Zero. Direct from injury to recovery with physios and then direct to 20 minutes in the Champions League.
“There are two perspectives – an amazing group and amazing guys but another side you see how we are at the moment.
“It’s a situation like going to fight with a gun without bullets.
(Image: PA)
“You can say we had luck in some moments, but a great goalkeeper made two magnificent saves.
“I’m not worried with the 1-0 – we can go there and win. What worries me is that these are our players for the next however many matches.
“Moura was absolutely dead, Bergwijn was absolutely dead, Lo Celso was absolutely dead.
“We are really in trouble. If it was just this game I’d say no problem but we have FA Cup and Premier League games.
(Image: Getty Images)
“I know Lamela could only give us 20 minutes and I knew Ndombele could not play for 90 minutes. I tried to manage the pieces I had.
“Don’t tell me Lamela and Ndombele could have started the game, they couldn’t have started the game.
“Here we go Chelsea[who they are playing on Saturday at 12:30pm] drinking sparkling water with lemon. Saturday morning [looking at the interviewer – the game was moved for BT Sport coverage] – thank you very much for the choice.”
