Jose Mourinho says his depleted Tottenham squad “deserve something special” by beating RB Leipzig in the Champions League last-16 second leg tonight.
Spurs are aiming to overturn a 1-0 deficit against the Bundesliga side but they are without Harry Kane, Heung-min Son and Steven Bergwijn. The Dutchman was ruled out for the season with a sprained ankle picked up at Burnley on Saturday.
Spurs have not won in the five matches since Son broke his arm and Mourinho is expected to use Dele Alli as a false No9, with support from Lucas Moura and one of Ryan Sessegnon or Erik Lamela.
The Spurs manager says he cannot fault his players’ efforts of late and claims they deserved the “happiness” of progressing at the Red Bull Arena tonight.
“Our momentum is not the best but I feel the boys deserve something special,” Mourinho said. “The group is very good, the boys give everything and again if we look at our games against Norwich, Wolves, Burnley, I think we fought really hard against all the circumstances and the boys deserve the kind of happiness that a victory in knockout Champions League can bring.”
Mourinho is also without Ben Davies, Moussa Sissoko and Juan Foyth, while Lamela may not be fit enough to start a second game in four days following a thigh problem.
Sessegnon is expected to start for the first time since February 5 as a left wing-back or in the front three, while Gedson Fernandes or Eric Dier is likely to replace Tanguy Ndombele in midfield.
Mourinho added: “We don’t have what we love to call the box sharks, we don’t have the players in our team that smell blood in the box and put the ball in the net.
“So even when we are dominant it is difficult for us to score lots of goals. Defensively we feel that pressure and it feels like every time we make a mistake we are punished.
“So the boys are not silly, they understand all of the fragilities. We go with everything we have.”
“So even when we are dominant it is difficult for us to score lots of goals. Defensively we feel that pressure and it feels like every time we make a mistake we are punished.
“So the boys are not silly, they understand all of the fragilities. We go with everything we have.”
