Jose Mourinho says Tottenham’s striking injury crisis has left them going into battle ‘with a gun with no bullets’, after they were beaten at home by RB Leipzig in the first leg of their Champions League last-16 tie.
Timo Werner’s second-half penalty proved the only goal of the game, leaving Spurs needing another European comeback in Germany in three weeks’ time if they are to progress.
Already without captain Harry Kane because of a hamstring injury, Mourinho was hit with a hammer blow earlier in the week with the news that Son Heung-Min had will be out for an extended period after injuring his arm in the win over Aston Villa on Sunday.
With the club ultimately paying the price for failing to bring in adequate back-up to Kane in each of the last two transfer windows, Mourinho is left with Brazilian Lucas Moura as his only senior forward option, with highly-rated teenager Troy Parrott seemingly not being considered.
“You look to the other guys [Leipzig],” Mourinho complained to BT Sport. “They play with [Patrick] Schick, Werner, [Christopher] Nkunku. Nkunku is tired, get out, on comes [Emil] Forsberg. Schick is tired, get out, on comes [Yussuf] Poulsen.
“This is our situation, it’s like going to a fight with a gun without bullets.”
With Kane facing a race to feature again this season and Son requiring surgery that will most likely rule him out for months rather than weeks, the situation is unlikely to improve anytime soon.
"I'm not worried with the 1-0 - we can go there and win,” Mourinho added. “What worries me is that these are our players for the next however many matches.
"Moura was absolutely dead, Bergwijn was absolutely dead, Lo Celso was absolutely dead.
"We are really in trouble. If it was just this game I'd say no problem but we have FA Cup and Premier League games.”
