Jose Mourinho on Wednesday admitted that Tottenham Hotspur got lucky after Son Heung-min’s late penalty secured a dramatic 3-2 win against Southampton in their FA Cup fourth-round replay.
Mourinho’s side were 12 minutes away from being knocked out after squandering the first-half lead given to them by Jack Stephens’ own-goal.
Shane Long and Danny Ings scored as Southampton hit back to take the lead at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
Photo: EPA-EFE
However, Lucas Moura equalized before Son won and converted the decisive penalty with just two minutes left.
“I have to be honest and say I think the best team lost on the pitch, but my team were the ones with more heart and went to their limit,” Mourinho said.
“We suffered, but we deserved to win, because we were in our limits. Southampton were fresher than us, but we played with our souls and heart and gave absolutely everything,” he added.
Tottenham, who last won the FA Cup in 1991, are to host struggling Norwich City in the fifth round in the first week of next month.
Aiming for the first trophy of his reign, Mourinho, who replaced Mauricio Pochettino earlier this season, will be relieved that Tottenham avoided a surprise exit from a competition he has not won since 2007 with Chelsea.
Taking credit for the win in classic Mourinho self-promoting style, he said: “I think I did very well, because I had to manage a team with so many difficulties.
“The priority is to survive. We have lots of difficulties. I’m not speaking just about Harry Kane, I’m speaking about injuries to Giovani lo Celso and Erik Lamela,” he said. “Today was a team completely unbalanced, really hard to organize it.”
Tottenham are without a major trophy of any kind since the 2008 EFL Cup and Mourinho would dearly love to end that drought, but his team will have to improve significantly.
Tottenham had won eight of their past nine home games against Southampton, including a 2-1 success in the Premier League earlier this season, and they were in front after 12 minutes.
Ryan Sessegnon’s burst opened up the Southampton defense and when the ball bounced to Tanguy Ndombele on the edge of the area, the midfielder drilled a powerful shot that took a big deflection off Stephens into his own net.
Ings should have equalized when he ran onto James Ward-Prowse’s pinpoint pass and got to the ball ahead of the hesitant Hugo Lloris, but the in-form striker’s shot cannoned back off the bar.
Southampton’s 34th-minute equalizer carried more than a whiff of blame for Lloris, who limply parried out Nathan Redmond’s shot for Long to slot home.
There was a blow for the visitors before halftime, when Ward-Prowse was stretchered off after needing oxygen for a knee injury sustained in a challenge with Sessegnon.
Ralph Hasenhuttl’s side deservedly took the lead in the 72nd minute.
Redmond made an incisive surge from deep inside his own half and slipped a pass to Ings, who cut past Japhet Tanganga before curling a fine finish into the far corner for his 17th goal of the season.
However, Lucas came to Tottenham’s rescue in the 78th minute, when he took Dele Alli’s pass and cleverly turned into the space on the edge of the area before drilling a superb strike into the far corner.
The momentum had swung in Tottenham’s favor and Son won it in the 88th minute, when he charged into the area and went down under minimal contact from goalkeeper Angus Gunn.
Son stepped up to take the penalty and fired home to send Tottenham into the last 16.
DFB POKAL
AP, MUNICH, Germany
Robert Lewandowski on Wednesday scored two goals to take his season tally to 35 as Bayern Munich came from behind to beat TSG 1899 Hoffenheim 4-3 and reach the DFB Pokal quarter-finals.
Bayern are back on target to win the German domestic double again this season after retaking the lead in the Bundesliga on Saturday last week. They are the favorites in the DFP Pokal, too.
Bayern are the only team from the Bundesliga’s top four to reach the quarter-finals after RB Leipzig and Borussia Dortmund were knocked out on Tuesday.
However, the win over Hoffenheim was marred by defensive errors, which could prove costly if repeated against Bayern’s title rivals Leipzig in the league on Sunday.
Bayern went behind an own-goal for the second DFB Pokal game in a row when Jerome Boateng turned the ball into his own net in the eighth minute while trying to block a shot with his shin.
Four minutes later, it was the turn of Hoffenheim’s Benjamin Hubner to score an own-goal by deflecting a cross past the goalkeeper with his knee to make it 1-1.
Thomas Muller put Bayern into the lead in the 20th minute off a cross from David Alaba.
Lewandowski scored in the 36th and 80th minutes to move to 35 goals in all competitions this season — 22 in the Bundesliga, 10 in the UEFA Champions League and three in the DFB Pokal.
Hoffenheim wasted a string of second-half chances, but Moanes Dabbur took advantage of mix-ups in Bayern’s defense to score two late goals, which left Bayern under pressure. Dabbur’s second came from a rebound after Bayern’s Benjamin Pavard smashed the ball against his own post.
Earlier, Bayer 04 Leverkusen needed a dose of luck to defeat second-tier VfB Stuttgart 2-1.
Stuttgart goalkeeper Fabian Bredlow completely mistimed a punch at a corner and deflected the ball into his own net to give Leverkusen the lead in the 71st.
Bredlow was partly to blame for Leverkusen’s second 12 minutes later, fumbling a rebound into the path of Lucas Alario, who made it 2-0.
Stuttgart hit back with a goal from Silas Wamangituka in the 85th minute, but Leverkusen clung on to win.
Fourth-tier Saarbrucken became the only lower-league team to reach the quarter-finals after beating Karlsruher SC 5-3 on penalties following a 0-0 draw.
Saarbrucken had to win a regional cup competition last year just to qualify for the DFB Pokal and have since beaten three teams from higher divisions, including Bundesliga side Cologne in the second round.
Union Berlin narrowly avoided extra time against fourth-tier SC Verl, taking a 1-0 win when Robert Andrich scored in the 85th minute. It was the first time Union have reached the quarter-finals since 2001, when they lost the final to Schalke 04.
COPA DEL REY
AFP, MADRID
Second-tier CD Mirandes on Wednesday reached the Copa del Rey semi-finals for just the second time when they defeated top flight Villarreal 4-2.
Mirandes claimed a third successive victory over a La Liga side in this year’s tournament after earlier knocking out RC Celta de Vigo and Sevilla.
They previously reached the last four in 2012, when they were still a third-division outfit, eventually being defeated by Athletic Bilbao.
Brazilian striker Matheus Barrozo gave the hosts the lead after 17 minutes before Javier Ontiveros leveled just after the half-hour mark for Villarreal, who sit in seventh place in the top flight.
Martin Merquelanz restored Mirandes’ advantage with a penalty on the stroke of halftime.
Santi Cazorla equalized 10 minutes into the second period with another penalty.
However, two minutes later, Mirandes were back in front thanks to Odei Onaindia, with Antonio Sanchez making it 4-2 in stoppage-time.
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