Tottenham Hotspur manager, Jose Mourinho, has questioned his players’ attitude and apologised to club supporters, after their shock Europa League exit on Thursday.
Spurs won the first leg 2-0, but crumbled in Croatia, losing 3-0 in the second leg.
Mislav Orsic netted a stunning hat-trick to upset Mourinho’s team.
“If I forget the last minutes of extra-time, where we did something to get a different result and go through, in the 90 minutes and first half of extra-time was one team that decided to leave everything on the pitch,” Mourinho told BT Sport.
“They left sweat, energy, blood. In the end they left even tears of happiness. Very humble and committed. I have to praise them. On the other side, my team. I repeat, my team. They didn’t look like it was playing an important match. If for any one of them it is not important, for me it is.
“For the respect I have for my career and my job, every match is important. For every Tottenham fan at home every match matters. Another attitude is needed. To say I feel sad is not enough.
“What I feel is much more than sadness. I just left Dinamo dressing room where I went to praise the guys and I feel sorry one team is not my team won the game based on attitude and compromise. I feel more than sad. That is it.
“Football is not just about players who think they have more quality than others. The basis of football is attitude. They beat us on that. I told the players the risk of playing the way we were. It happened because I believe the players only realised it was at risk when they scored the second.”
