Soccer

Mourinho lambasts the attitude of his players after shock defeat

‘I prepared my players to play against Orsic, I gave them all the information about him’

Tottenham Hotspur manager Jose Mourinho during his team’s defeat to Dinamo Zagreb. Photograph: Getty Images

Paul Doyle
Fri Mar 19 2021 - 09:03

José Mourinho lambasted the attitude of his players and apologised to fans after Tottenham were dumped out of the Europa League in humiliating fashion. Their trip to Zagreb was supposed to be little more than a formality after their two-goal win last week in the first leg but, four days after losing the north London derby, Spurs produced an anaemic display in perfect contrast to that of their hosts. Mislav Orsic’s magnificent hat-trick crowned a famous win for the Croatian champions.

“I’m disappointed with the difference of attitude between one team and the other,” Mourinho said after the 3-2 aggregate defeat. “I feel sorry that my team – I belong to that team – is the team that didn’t bring to the game not just the basics of football but, I believe, the basics of life, which is to respect our jobs and to give everything.

“I don’t need external critics because I feel deeply hurt with what happened with my team. I don’t want to say much more than that. On behalf of my team, in spite of some of them maybe not sharing my feelings and emotions, I can only apologise to the Tottenham supporters.”

Mourinho went into the Dinamo dressing room after the match to congratulate the hosts on their deserved victory. But he accused his own players of being unprofessional. “[DINAMO] played with a lot of desire. I can also call it professionalism, because for me professionalism starts with the attitude,” he said, adding he felt “more than sad” that his players “did not look like they were playing in an important match”.

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Mourinho said Orsic’s goals came as no surprise, that Spurs’ analysts had forewarned the players. “I prepared my players to play against Orsic, I gave them all the information about him. So I don’t know what else to say.” - Guardian

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