Jose Mourinho revealed he apologised to Eric Dier after withdrawing the midfielder after just 28 minutes.
The Tottenham Hotspur boss watched as his side shipped two cheap goals in the first half at home to Olmpiacos, knowing a win would secure Champions League qualification.
Spurs booked their place in the Champions League knockout stage for a third successive year with a brilliant 4-2 comeback win against Olympiacos in Jose Mourinho’s first home game in charge.
It had looked like the Greek side were about to ruin Mourinho’s big night as they capitalised on a truly woeful opening 30 minutes by Spurs to lead 2-0 after 20 minutes thanks to goals from Youssef El Arabi and Ruben Semedo.
Dele Alli’s reply just before the break proved pivotal as it gave Mourinho’s men a base to produce a fine second-half blitz, with Harry Kane grabbing a brace and Serge Aurier capping a fine performance with the goal of the night.
Kane’s double sent him into the record books as he is now the fastest player to 20 Champions League goals, only needing 24 games.
The victory, a second in two games for Mourinho, means that Spurs can go to Bayern Munich in a fortnight with their place in the last 16 already secured, though they are unable to top Group B even if they win in Germany.
“First thing I want to say is to do publicly what I did in the dressing room and that is to apologise to Eric Dier,” Mourinho told BT Sport 2
“It’s never easy for a player but it’s also not easy for us coaches. But I did it for the team.
“It was not because Eric was playing badly. It was because the team needed a different solution.
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“We were losing 2-0, they were closing really well. I needed a second man with Dele Alli to come into the pockets to be in between the centre-backs and the wingbacks to make a connection.
“For that I need to remove one player and it was between Dier and (Harry) Winks. So hard decision for me but I did it for the team. It’s about the team, not about individuals.”
