Jose Mourinho believes the bond between Tottenham supporters and the team frayed in the final months under Mauricio Pochettino and says he wants to start re-establishing the “empathy” against Olympiacos on Tuesday.
Spurs can reach the Champions League last-16 with a game to spare if they beat the Greek side in Mourinho’s first home match in charge, although Bayern Munich — who are currently managerless — will confirm top spot with a win at Red Star Belgrade.
Mourinho has already been in the dugout at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, leading Inter Forever to a 5-4 win over Spurs Legends in the £1.2billion ground’s second test event in March, and the Portuguese was a spectator for the 1-0 Premier League defeat to Newcastle earlier this season.
The new Spurs head coach believes the connection between players and supporters was inevitably damaged by a run of 24 points from 23 matches before Saturday’s 3-2 win at West Ham in his opening game. “There are a few stadiums where you always enjoy the atmosphere, you always envy the support that your opponent has, and many times I played there I felt envy of such a strong and passionate support,” Mourinho said of the old White Hart Lane.
“[In the Newcastle game] I felt the relationship between the fans and the team and the pride for that new home. I think they [the supporters] love the team, love the club, love the stadium and I believe that Tuesday can be the restart of that empathy between the supporters and the team. An empathy that with bad results you lose a little bit, so let’s hope it can be the start of that empathy coming back.
“Other stadiums will have 10,000 more spectators, but this is the best stadium in the world.”
Ahead of his 148th match in the competition, it took Mourinho just 65 seconds of his pre-match press conference to remind Spurs supporters that he has twice won the Champions League and another 27 seconds to point out that he has never failed to qualify from the group stage.
Pochettino, who was sacked a week ago, claimed it would be a “miracle” to win the European Cup with Spurs before guiding them to a maiden final, and later said it was “unfair” to compare his side to Liverpool, who recovered from losing the 2018 final to beat Spurs in Madrid in June.
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But Mourinho, who also revealed he is yet to directly contact his predecessor, said: “I would change ‘miracle’ to ‘very difficult’. With these boys, I will never be afraid of any Champions League match.
“When you are almost landing on the moon and you don’t do it, I believe the frustration is very, very high.
“But if you look to a team like Liverpool and they still had the frustration of not winning a final and then the next season they reached the final and they won the competition. It depends on the people’s mentality and the way you react to such a big disappointment.”
Mourinho finished with a characteristic quip, saying: “To arrive in the final is an incredible achievement, but it’s not history. History is winning.”
Mourinho will be without goalkeepers Hugo Lloris (elbow) and Michel Vorm (calf), as well as Erik Lamela (hamstring) and Ben Davies (ankle).
Danny Rose or fit-again Jan Vertonghen will come in at left-back, while midfielder Tanguy Ndombele is also available.
