José Mourinho has accused the football authorities of double standards over the decision to ban Dele Alli for an ill-judged social media post about coronavirus but ignore much worse behaviour from others in the game during the pandemic.
Alli will miss Tottenham’s opening fixture of the Premier League restart at home to Manchester United on Friday night after a Football Association disciplinary hearing found him guilty of an “aggravated breach” of one of its rules that includes reference to race, colour or ethnicity.
The midfielder had posted a video to a private Snapchat group on 6 February that showed him wearing a face mask in an airport lounge. The camera moved to show an Asian man before zooming in on a bottle of antiseptic handwash.
“I feel very, very sorry that Dele is not playing,” Mourinho said. “He’s a player that works so, so hard during all this period and he’s really frustrated that he cannot play the first match. I don’t think he deserves a one-match ban compared with wrong behaviours at much bigger dimensions that happened during this period without any consequences.
“I don’t like these kind of contradictions. It’s for everybody or it’s for nobody and it’s quite unfair for a kid who made a mistake and apologised for it … I really don’t agree with it.”
Mourinho was asked to name who he was thinking about in terms of people who had broken the lockdown rules and he brought up his own breach – when he was pictured with the Spurs midfielder Tanguy Ndombele on a common in north London, together with a couple of other men. At that point, people were permitted to exercise outdoors only with members of their own household.
The manager said he had “spent two minutes” with Ndombele, “nothing more than that”, trying to teach him how to use the “wifi GPS” vests with which the club monitor player performance.
“The pictures taken in the park of me speaking with a little group of young men … they were not my players, they were players from a Championship club. I was there at the right distance having a little talk with them and the pictures gave the idea I was with my players, which was not true. It was still a mistake.”
Mourinho is waiting to hear whether he will lose another player to suspension with an FA panel still to rule on Eric Dier’s charge for entering the stands after the FA Cup penalty shootout loss at home to Norwich on 4 March. Dier wanted to confront an abusive fan who had become embroiled in an argument with his youngest brother. The FA has given no updates and, in the meantime, Dier is expected to start in central defence against United alongside Toby Alderweireld.
“If this story is still alive, it surprises me very, very much because now, even with Marcus Rashford [the United player who campaigned to reverse government policy on school meal vouchers] we have the proof that what is right is right. I thought that this was the case [with Dier] and if it’s not the case I would be very disappointed.”
Mourinho said Harry Kane, Son Heung-min and Moussa Sissoko would start against United after recovering fitness but there is a doubt over Giovani Lo Celso, who had a groin injury before the shutdown.
“I consider Gio to be [unfortunate],” Mourinho said. “He needed daily treatment, close contact with physios and fitness coaches, but that was not possible. For about two months, he was injured and couldn’t recover. Only in the past days, he’s been training with the team. Is he available? Yes, I think so. But we will test if he’s going to play 90 minutes.”
Mourinho discussed the stark reality of Spurs’s financial situation, acknowledging how clubs such as United and Chelsea were effectively operating in different markets. “We are going, as always, to be very balanced,” Mourinho said. “But I expect us to do some little important things … to improve in two or three positions.”
Jan Vertonghen, who is out of contract on 30 June, is expected to sign a short-term extension to keep him at the club for the final matches of the season, before leaving for Italy or Spain.