Leipzig bench can be in Spurs XI: Mourinho

Tottenham forward Lucas Moura being comforted by his manager Jose Mourinho following their 3-0 Champions League second-leg defeat at RB Leipzig. Spurs, who were missing key players like Harry Kane, Son Heung-min and Davinson Sanchez owing to injury,
Tottenham forward Lucas Moura being comforted by his manager Jose Mourinho following their 3-0 Champions League second-leg defeat at RB Leipzig. Spurs, who were missing key players like Harry Kane, Son Heung-min and Davinson Sanchez owing to injury, lost 4-0 on aggregate. PHOTO: REUTERS

LEIPZIG • Jose Mourinho has warned that Tottenham will find it "very difficult" to qualify for the Champions League after RB Leipzig ended their participation this year by winning their last-16 tie 4-0 on aggregate.

Spurs were no match for the German Bundesliga side, who booked their first quarter-final berth with a 3-0 home win. And there is no sign of their injury problems easing before they host Manchester United in the Premier League on Sunday.

Son Heung-min, Harry Kane, Steven Bergwijn, Moussa Sissoko, Ben Davies, Juan Foyth and Davinson Sanchez were all missing on Tuesday night.

Their absences told, with Marcel Sabitzer's double and substitute Emil Forsberg's first touch condemning last season's finalists to an early exit.

Spurs' poor domestic form has left them lagging behind in the race to secure Champions League football. They are seven points behind fourth-placed Chelsea (48 points), a gap Mourinho feels may be beyond his injury-hit team.

"With the squad we have, it is going to be very, very difficult," said the manager, whose six-game winless run in all competitions is the worst of his career. "Our problems are not going to disappear tomorrow. We will fight until the end.

"We are not going to recover any players for Sunday but, at least, we have a little period. So, at least from a physical point, we can react.

"I was positive yesterday but that's the way I have to be. The reality is a different thing. One team is much stronger. All the players on the Leipzig bench would play at this moment in my team."

Dele Alli refused to use the injury excuse, claiming Spurs showed the wrong mentality in Germany.

"If you don't step up, you're going to be punished," said the England midfielder. "We had to show maturity and fight and we didn't do that. We have to apologise to the fans who came out here."

Former Manchester United defender Rio Ferdinand also took Mourinho to task for his failure to instil confidence.

"He has got big injuries to big players but you want to see something that seems mapped out. There seemed no identity with that team," the pundit told BT Sport.

"It's down to the manager to pick them up."

In Spain, Italian side Atalanta's fairy-tale run continued inside the empty 55,000-capacity Mestalla Stadium, where Josip Ilicic scored four times in a 4-3 win over hosts Valencia to send the Champions League debutants into the quarter-finals 8-4 on aggregate.

The Slovenia forward, 32, is the oldest player to net four goals in a Champions League game, surpassing Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who was 21 days younger when he set the mark against Anderlecht in 2013, and is the first to do so in an away game.

Ilicic has 14 strikes in all competitions this calendar year, the most in Europe's top five leagues, and has warned that he is "getting better with age".

THE GUARDIAN

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A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on March 12, 2020, with the headline Leipzig bench can be in Spurs XI: Mourinho. Subscribe