José Mourinho is lyrical about the efforts of his pupils at Tottenham Hotspur. The Premier League club reached the Europa League main draw on Thursday evening after a 7-2 win over Maccabi Tel Aviv; three days earlier, Tottenham Hotspur won via a penalty shootout from Chelsea in the eighth final of the EFL Cup. The busy schedule is an attack on the players, Mourinho realizes.

Three of the players were on the field for ninety minutes in both games. After the victory over Maccabi, they will be spotlighted by Mourinho. “What Eric Dier, Steven Bergwijn and Toby Alderweireld have done is inhumane. It has been scientifically proven that it is impossible to do what they do; every sports scientist knows that,” said the Portuguese manager. Sky Sports. “You shouldn’t be allowed to play 180 minutes of football in three days.”

“But these three guys did it. I know that other players were also at their limit. Because we have a strong selection, with many different possibilities, we were able to face this situation,” Mourinho continues. “We managed to go on twice in a knockout phase, in the EFL Cup and the Europa League, but we could have been eliminated just like that. Job done. I’m very happy with it.”

Bergwijn played a strong match against Maccabi, which he awarded with two assists. Lucas Moura headed home after a corner from the winger, after which he also prepared a hit by Harry Kane with good action on the left flank. Mourinho also expressed his concern about the busy schedule earlier this week: he called on national team coaches to spare the players of Tottenham Hotspur as much as possible. “It can be very dangerous to tax them so much,” Mourinho warned.