Jose Mourinho refrained from criticising his team as Tottenham Hotspur were knocked out of Europe, citing the limitations of his squad at present.
Spurs lost 3-0 to Leipzig in the Champions League last 16 second leg, a 4-0 scoreline on aggregate which highlighted the tactical and technical gulf between the sides over 180 minutes.
Marcel Sabitzer struck twice in the first half and Timo Werner had an effort disallowed for offside, before Emil Forsberg wrapped the tie up late on.
It means last season’s finalists’ Champions League participation is in doubt for 2020/21, with their Premier League standing leaving them needing a strong end to the season to secure a top-four finish – or fifth, if Man City’s ban is upheld.
After the game, Mourinho insisted that he went into the game in a positive frame of mind, but that early errors cost his team.
“Of course I was very positive and that’s the way I have to be,” he told BT Sport.
“If I’m not, it’s better [to] not to come to the game. I was positive and motivated the players and we all believed.
“But we know this moment is very difficult. [Leipzig are] a very strong side. Our first couple of mistakes [made] and they score; after that the game is difficult.
“Their physicality is very impressive, midfield very intense, attacking players very fast. Even when we have the ball, we cannot hurt people and they can hurt us all the time.”
That assessment of the game was rather on-point, with Spurs barely threatening aside from a Giovani Lo Celso shot, while Leipzig looked within themselves at times and opened Spurs up repeatedly in the first half.
Having publicly derided the performance of midfielder Tanguy Ndombele at the weekend against Burnley, Mourinho made a clear distinction between that occasion and the efforts of his players in Germany – appearing to suggest they simply didn’t have the quality or experience required to compete at this level in the Champions League.
“If I can be critical with some of my players with some mistakes, I’ll keep it for us [internally]. They gave what they can give.
“We made mistakes and mistakes that we analysed in previous matches. but sometimes it’s just when you don’t have more to give, you give what you can.
“I never blame players for some difficulties. I more blame them when they have potential and playing within their limits. I am with the boys and that’s it.”
Mourinho further noted that injuries had been the “history of this season”, stating he had lost centre-back Davinson Sanchez just hours before kick-off.
Even so, he insisted that a complete rebuild in the summer would not be needed, with returning players including Harry Kane, Moussa Sissoko, Son Heung-min and Steven Bergwijn making a massive difference.
Meanwhile, Dele Alli also spoke after the game and was exceptionally unhappy with the team’s performance as a whole.
“It’s devastating. We had belief before the game but we didn’t perform. It was disappointing to go out like that,” he said.
“We knew we had to score two to go through but we conceded too many chances as a team and we were punished. It’s hard to come back when you’re on top and concede two goals.
“We had to show maturity and fight and we didn’t do that. We can’t use [players out injured] as an excuse. We still have quality on the pitch. When that happens the players who come in have to step up and we haven’t done that today.
“This hasn’t been a good season for us but we have to keep fighting. We have to turn it around and we’re the only ones who can do that.”
