Jose Mourinho: Tottenham faced ‘mission impossible’ against Real Madrid after Crouch was sent off
Coach also warns his team to expect to play with 10 men if they face Barcelona in the semi-finals as 'every time I go there it's the same story'
Real Madrid coach Jose Mourinho pointed to the dismissal of Peter Crouch as the key factor in his side’s 4-0 win over Tottenham in the Champions League.
The Spanish side were leading courtesy of an Emmanuel Adebayor goal when the Spurs striker was sent off after picking up a second yellow card. The hosts then proceeded to cruise to victory with Adebayor netting again before Angel di Maria and Cristiano Ronaldo completed the victory.
Speaking to Sky Sports after the game, the former Chelsea and Inter coach admitted he had experience of playing with 10 men in the Champions League and claimed it was impossible to win with a man down.
“11 against 10 at Champions League level it’s always mission impossible,” he explained.
“I played Barcelona against Chelsea with 10, impossible. I played with Inter against Barcelona with 10 men, impossible, Arsenal played with 10 men against Barcelona a few weeks ago, it’s impossible.
“It’s just a question of the team with 11 keeping concentration, keeping a high tempo, not letting their opponents breathe, not letting their opponents have the ball and we did that in the second half, not in the first half.”
Despite the emphatic scoreline, Mourinho also claimed the tie was far from over, insisting English mentality meant Spurs would fight until the last minute to try and recover the deficit.
“Not yet [the match is not over]. You know that I know English football well, I know English mentality. I know White Hart Lane,” he added.
“It is not over. For you it is not over. In other cultures I would say yes but in England they have belief until the last minute so it is not over.”
Should Real prevail they face a potential semi-final against rivals Barcelona, but Mourinho insisted he was not worried about that eventuality just yet.
“First of all, we have to be there and secondly we have to see if it is Barcelona or Shakhtar,” he said.
“We have to wait one more week, we have to think about ourselves and if we have to play against Barcelona, what we have to do is to train well and train how to play with 10 men because in the Champions League every time I go there it’s always the same story.”
