Jose Mourinho tells Tottenham they need 'two more victories to win Europa League'

In charge: Jose Mourinho
REUTERS

Jose Mourinho has told his Tottenham players they need victories in their final two games of the season to win next season's Europa League.

It is now impossible for Spurs to reach the Champions League for a fifth consecutive season but they will likely qualify for the Europa League with a top-seven finish.

The club has not won a trophy in over a decade but Mourinho has twice triumphed in the Europa League – with Porto and Manchester United – and the manager says he is motivating his players for the games against Leicester and Crystal Palace with talk of winning next season's competition.

"I'm telling the players, two more victories to win the Europa League," he told a press conference ahead of the Foxes visit on Sunday.

"I know it's not like that, I know the Europa League is a long competition and of course some good teams, of course some teams go from Champions League to Europa League in the knockout phase and makes it a really difficult competition.

"But it's just a feeling to try to motivate the boys because of course of level is Champions League. I want Champions League, the players played Champions League final. That's the level of our club, of our stadium. That's what the fans want, that's what we as a club wants.

"I'm just trying to motivate the troops because it's very important to keep that motivation. It's not possible that Sheffield United, Wolverhampton and Arsenal, it's not possible they have more motivation than us to get one of these spots. Europa League is good, you can rotate players, it's a fantastic experience for younger people that maybe Champions League comes too early for them. I think it's good, I think we have to try that."

Since Mourinho succeeded Mauricio Pochettino in November, only Liverpool, Manchester City and United have picked up more points than Spurs and the Portuguese believes they would have reached the Champions League without a succession of injuries before the lockdown.

By contrast, Mourinho believes United's own rise up the table has partly been down to luck.

"We're sure that without the problems that we had during the whole season we would be of course in a much different situation now," he said.

"But that was our season. Since Hugo's big injury at Brighton and then everything that happened after I arrived made the season impossible to be better than what it is. I think the boys deserve [more] but we need points to finish in a position that give us Europa League next season."

"I think Spurs would be even better than that without all the problems that we had," he added. "I think no other team had even similar problems to that.

"The fact that we're fourth since my arrival, without Lloris, Harry Kane, Sissoko, Son, without almost everybody, is a good reflection of the potential that we have, the work we're all doing. That's why I say the minimum we deserve is to finish in a position to keep us in European football, a competition that we don't deserve.

"It's not our level, we're better than that, but still European competition.

"I'm not looking at [the Champions League] fight. If Manchester United does it, they'll do it by playing very well in the second part of the season. And when you play well, you deserve. And in the top of that everybody knows they were a bit lucky more than one time. Luck that others didn't have. Us for example, didn't have that luck."

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