Tottenham Hotspur lost 1-0 at home to RB Leipzig on Wednesday.
Tottenham Hotspur boss Jose Mourinho has told Football.London that he thinks Dele Alli was angry with himself rather than anybody else last night.
Spurs hosted RB Leipzig in the last 16 of the Champions League, and fell to a 1-0 defeat as Timo Werner’s penalty was enough to give the Bundesliga side the win.
Tottenham have a tough challenge ahead in Germany, especially as Son Heung-min and Harry Kane are almost certainly going to miss the second leg.
In truth, Spurs were maybe fortunate to get out with just a 1-0 defeat, as Leipzig had a number of opportunities, but Tottenham dug in for most of the game.
Going forward, Spurs were of course limited without Son and Kane, but whilst Mourinho didn’t have many options on the bench, he did make a change.
Mourinho substituted Dele Alli for Erik Lamela on 64 minutes, sparking an angry reaction from the England international as he threw down his bottle and boots in anger.
Mourinho was unsurprisingly asked about the matter after the full-time whistle, and believes that Alli was angry at himself for his own performance, not at Mourinho for substituting him, and added that he thinks Alli understands why he was taken off.
“I think he was angry with his performance. Not with me,” said Mourinho. “I think he understood why I took him off and the team improved,” he added.
Alli’s hot run of form under Mourinho appears to have ended of late, and it’s clear that he is passionate about the game, especially with so much pressure on him with Son and Kane out.
Hopefully, Alli can get back to his best soon, and whilst he may be branded ‘immature’ in the days to come, Spurs fans may just love to see that level of passion from the midfielder.
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