Jose Mourinho on Tuesday said that players are being put in danger by the soccer authorities after Tottenham Hotspur beat Chelsea 5-4 on penalties to progress to the quarter-finals of the EFL Cup after a 1-1 draw.
Mourinho’s players were playing the second of four games in eight days in three different competitions.
Eric Dier was the only outfield player retained in the Tottenham team that started Sunday’s 1-1 draw in the Premier League against Newcastle United and the England defender had to dash from the field for a comfort break in the second half.
Photo: Reuters
“The number of minutes played is dangerous,” Mourinho said. “It should be forbidden to play two matches in 48 hours. What Eric Dier did is not human.”
Timo Werner’s first goal for Chelsea compounded Mourinho’s woes in a dominant start from Frank Lampard’s players.
However, Erik Lamela deservedly leveled for Spurs seven minutes from time and new Chelsea goalkeeper Edouard Mendy was unable to keep Dier, Lamela, Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg, Lucas Moura and Harry Kane from scoring from the penalty spot.
Tammy Abraham, Cesar Azpilicueta, Jorginho and Emerson also converted their penalties, as the first nine of the shoot-out were successful, but Mason Mount’s effort clipped the post.
Mourinho said that the fixture pileup gave him no choice but to prioritize today’s UEFA Europa League tie against Maccabi Haifa, given the financial incentive on offer for the club.
“I told the players they should only think about this game, but I have to think about three games,” said Mourinho, who faces Manchester United in the Premier League on Sunday.
“I cannot believe that in 48 hours we are playing a European game,” he said. “The boys were absolutely phenomenal.”
Lampard made eight changes, but Werner was one of those retained from the 3-3 draw at West Bromwich Albion on Saturday last week and he took the opportunity to get his first goal for the club after a big money move from RB Leipzig.
Lampard had won his previous three meetings against his former manager, Mourinho, and the tensions between the two flared during the first half, as they exchanged angry words on the touchline.
On the field, Spurs were the better side, as Mendy made important saves from Lamela and Reguilon either side of halftime.
Mourinho showed his intent by introducing Kane from the bench with 20 minutes to go.
Moments later, the Portuguese was marching down the tunnel after Dier, as the defender made a dash to the dressing room before quickly returning.
Chelsea did not make the most of a brief period with an extra man, as Callum Hudson-Odoi fired over and Werner’s fierce effort was saved by Lloris.
“He wasn’t happy, but there was nothing I could do about it — nature was calling,” Dier said of being pursued by Mourinho. “Thankfully, they didn’t score.”
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
RALLY: It was only the second time the Taiwanese has partnered with Kudermetova, and the match seemed tight until they won seven points in a row to take the last set 10-2 Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova on Sunday won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix women’s doubles final in Stuttgart, Germany. The pair defeated Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri and Estonia’s Ingrid Neel 4-6, 6-3, 10-2 in a tightly contested match at the WTA 500 tournament. Chan and Kudermetova fell 4-6 in the first set after having their serve broken three times, although they played increasingly well. They fought back in the second set and managed to break their opponents’ serve in the eighth game to triumph 6-3. In the tiebreaker, Chan and Kudermetova took a 3-0 lead before their opponents clawed back two points, but
Taiwanese gymnast Lee Chih-kai failed to secure an Olympic berth in the pommel horse following a second-place finish at the last qualifier in Doha on Friday, a performance that Lee and his coach called “unconvincing.” The Tokyo Olympics silver medalist finished runner-up in the final after scoring 6.6 for degree of difficulty and 8.800 for execution for a combined score of 15.400. That was just 0.100 short of Jordan’s Ahmad Abu Al Soud, who had qualified for the event in Paris before the Apparatus World Cup series in Qatar’s capital. After missing the final rounds in the first two of four qualifier