Jose Mourinho revealed Eric Dier confronted a Tottenham fan who ‘insulted’ with his younger brother after he jumped into the stands following his side’s defeat to Norwich.
The Spurs midfielder was involved in an altercation with fans just moments after Norwich had dumped Tottenham out of the FA Cup.
Dier was dragged away by stewards in ugly scenes and appeared to tell fans ‘he’s my brother’ as he was ushered away from the melee.
Mourinho was asked about the incident in the post-game press conference and explained what had happened to spark such an angry response from Dier.
‘This person insulted Eric, the younger brother was not happy with the situation and Eric was not happy. We as professionals cannot do what he did,’ Mourinho said after the game.
‘I don’t think that belongs to the game. The game was a fantastic representation of the FA Cup, but I cannot run away from the question.
‘I think Eric Dier did what we as professionals cannot do but when someone insults you and your family is involved, especially your young brother.’
Norwich fought back from a goal down to force extra time at Tottenham and then edged a nail-biting penalty shoot-out.
Mourinho bemoaned a fantastic game being overshadowed by Dier’s actions, but is not in favour of punishing his player.
He said: ‘If the club [decide to] discipline Eric Dier I would not agree with it, but what he did was wrong.’
Fans close by claimed Dier was reacting to fans verbally abusing his brother and Mourinho tried to further explain why the England international lost his temper.
‘The people that are in these privileged positions by the tunnel,’ he said.
‘Of course some are Tottenham fans but I think a lot of corporate, a lot of invitation, a lot of people with special status and probably it’s the place of the stadium where I sometimes have doubts over if they are the real Tottenham fans because these [real fans] are the ones who support the boys until the last.
‘This person insulted Eric, his family was there.
‘The young brother was not happy with the situation and then Eric, I repeat did what we professionals cannot do, but did something that probably we would do.’
There were other reports of Dier possibly reaction to racism in the crowd, but Mourinho said he had not been told about any such comments.
MORE: Eric Dier clashes with Tottenham fans in stands after FA Cup defeat to Norwich
MORE: Wayne Rooney urges Manchester United to copy Liverpool in rebuild
Follow Metro Sport across our social channels, on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
For more stories like this, check our sport page.
from Football – Metro https://ift.tt/3axsNEV
No comments:
Post a Comment