Champions League Round of 16
Tottenham Hotspur got destroyed against the German team Leipzig 3-0, after losing at home 1-0. In two knockout phase games, Tottenham was unable to score a single goal against a team that allowed 8 goals in 6 matches during the group phase.
Even worse, the 2019 Champions League runner-up were incapable of creating any strong chances in Germany. They deservedly get knocked out of the tournament. For their coach, Jose Mourinho, the nicknamed Special One, is no longer special. He is nothing more than a struggling coach in a struggling team full of injuries now. His recipe for success has failed him since his days with Manchester United.
Win trophy Everywhere
Jose Mourinho is (was) a successful Portuguese coach who has won everywhere he coached. In fact, he won the UEFA Champions League and the Portuguese league with Porto in 2004 that put him on a pedestal for a great coaching career. Notably, he won 3 Premier League titles with Chelsea in two different stints, two Serie A titles with Inter Milan alongside another UEFA Champions League, one La Liga title with Real Madrid and one UEFA Europa League with Manchester United amongst other domestic cups.
At Tottenham, Mourinho replaced Mauricio Pochettino who had done a fabulous job with the Spurs in his 5 years with club. This season has been marked by many injuries and the club was glued in the middle of the table that sparked his sacking and replacement by Mourinho. But the latter seems to have lost his mojo. He now looks for excuses on what has not gone well which is something we were not used to see with him before. Mourinho may not continue with the club past this 2019-20 season…
Coach Mourinho find the excuses on what went wrong at Leipzig
“The players were on their limits fighting until they could but also from the mental point of view. The emotional point of view it’s very, very difficult to be on the pitch, to know that it’s a really difficult target to achieve.
In the second half, the players struggled but they gave everything they could. Everything that was in their limits, then Giovani (Lo Celso) with problems. You can see the way Lucas, Dele, Lamela finished the game – really, really tired,” added the coach.
“It’s really hard. They were very intense, they were very physical, the rhythm of their game was very strong. We had an opportunity to score, I thought it was going to be an own goal. I saw the ball inside, we had that chance. Then they go there, they score and after that it was really hard.
I think this is an incredibly unlucky season for the Club. Just look to the Leipzig match – before the first leg, we lost Sonny at Villa, before this match, two days before, we lost Bergwijn for the second leg. We don’t speak about Sissoko or Davies or Kane. But we are always positive, we are always ready to fight, we are always ready to believe”
