Jose's five-point preview - Dinamo Zagreb
Jose Mourinho looks ahead to our UEFA Europa League Round of 16, first leg against Croatian champions Dinamo Zagreb at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium this evening (8pm).
1 - Team news - Gio
First up, Jose gave us an update on the fitness of Giovani Lo Celso...
Jose: “Gio is not ready, but it’s nothing to do with his previous big injury, that one is behind him. He was training normally with the team, just improving fitness levels, and now he has a back pain, which is nothing dramatic or to fear, but he’s stopped training in the last couple of days, so not yet.”
2 - Team news - changes?
Jose then gave us an indication that he planned to make a few changes...
Jose: “Apart from Gio, Joe Rodon the only player not selected because he is not in the UEFA list. Everybody is selected and everybody is fit. Am I going to repeat the same team that played against Crystal Palace? No, I'm going to make a few changes. The team is working very well, everybody is training hard, everybody is pushing to play, so, for me, it doesn't matter who is playing as our team is going to be strong."
3 - Dinamo Zagreb
Jose expressed his admiration for Dinamo Zagreb as soon as the draw was made - what is he expecting from the Croatian giants tonight?
Jose: “I’ve already said to the players to forget the level of opposition we’ve been playing previously in the Europa League, some good teams, well organised, but a complete level of Dinamo. They have experienced players, international players, some have experience of the Champions League. Of course, Croatian football is talented at many levels. They won the group phase, then they beat Krasnodar in the knockout with two victories. They are a good team. I played them with Real Madrid in the Champions League, but even last season, for example, they beat a club like Atalanta 4-0 at home, which was an impressive result.”
4 - ‘No underdogs’
In Jose’s pre-match press conference, a Croatian journalist suggested that Dinamo Zagreb were underdogs in the tie...
Jose: “I don't think at this level we can speak about underdogs. A team to be in a fight for the last eight is of course a good team, so the underdog story doesn't fit in with how I think of knockout football. So, for me, no underdogs. A very good team, they defend a lot and well, they are good in counter-attack, they have technical quality, they have physicality. They play in Europe every year, they played in the Champions League recently, they have international players from different countries. It is a big step up in relation to the previous challenges we had before. The teams we have played before are in a completely different level to Dinamo. It is a difficult tie for us.”
5 - Game by game
Jose was also asked if the Europa League represented our best route back into the Champions League...
Jose: “I don't think about it, I just think about trying to win (tonight), Sunday, the next match in Europa League, the next match Premier League. That's the way it has to be done. That's the way I want the players to feel, we're not going to throw away any competition. If we're knocked out in Europa League, it's not because we didn't go strong, it's because the opponent was better than us. And if we don't finish in the top four of the Premier League, it's because other clubs did better than us and they had more points. But we're going to go strong.”