Europa League: Mourinho apologises to fans, says team "lack basics of life"

Jose Mourinho is feeling the pressure as time is running out for him to get his Tottenham side back in top-four contention after they were knocked out of the Europa League by Dinamo Zagreb.

Jose Mourinho said his Dinamo Zagreb won their Europa League round of 16 tie against Tottenham because the Croatian side had more attitude, claiming his team “lacked the basics of life”.

It was a disgraceful evening in Croatia, with Spurs losing 3-2 on aggregate despite going into the second leg with a first-leg 2-0 lead.

Dinamo Zagreb were inspired by a Mislav Orsic hat-trick. Tottenham fans would have been expecting a reaction after a disappointing 2-1 loss to Arsenal in the Premier League, but things only got worse as they were knocked out of the Europa League after a shocking loss.

Speaking After the match, Mourinho said he was more than sad and apologized to the Tottenham fans for the unimpressive display.

He told BT Sport: "In the 90 minutes and in the first half of extra-time, there was one team that decided to leave everything on the pitch. They left everything there - they left sweat, energy, blood and at the end of the game, they had even tears of happiness. Very humble, very committed and I have to praise them.

"On the other side, my team didn't look they were playing an important match. But for me, it is for the respect I have for my own career and my own job. Every match is an important match for me and I believe that for every Tottenham fan at home, every match matters and another attitude is needed.

"To say that I feel sad is not enough because what I feel goes much further than sadness.

Jose Mourinho, what a guy! He came to Dinamo’s locker room after the game to congratulate Dinamo Zagreb lads for beating his team fair&square.
A true champ! 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻 ⁦@gnkdinamo⁩ ⁦@SpursOfficial⁩ pic.twitter.com/ZMYXmH7Jrb
— PCM (@PeytonCity) March 18, 2021

"I just left Dinamo's dressing room where I went there to praise the guys and I feel sorry that one team that is not my team won the game based on attitude, so I feel more than sad. Football is not just about players who think they have more quality than others. The basics of football go beyond that, the basics of football is the attitude and they beat us on that.

"Many times I fear my thoughts, my feelings but I don't blame myself in the sense that I always share them. Before the game, I told the players the risks of a bad attitude. I told them at half-time, even with 0-0, the risk of playing the way we were playing and it happened because I believe that the players only realized the game was in risk when they scored the second goal and it went to extra-time.

"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 the basics of life, which is to respect our jobs and to give everything.

"On behalf of my team, in spite of maybe some of them who don't share my feelings and my emotions, I can only apologize to the Tottenham supporters and I hope that the players feel the same as I feel."