Chelsea manager Frank Lampard could not resist making a reference to the Europa League when hitting back at Jose Mourinho.
The Tottenham Hotspur head coach complained ahead of tonight’s Carabao Cup fourth round clash between the London rivals about his side’s hectic fixture schedule which will see the club firstly take on the Blues followed by Maccabi Haifa in the Europa League on Thursday and Manchester United in the Premier League on Sunday (Metro).
Mourinho claimed that Tottenham may have to sacrifice the Carabao Cup this season due to having to spread themselves so thin.
Speaking ahead of the match, Lampard insisted that he had little sympathy for his former boss by claiming that that the North Londoners do not have things any more difficult than many other teams so far this season.
Tottenham found themselves missing out on a fifth Champions League campaign in a row after only managing to finish sixth in the Premier League table while Chelsea secured a place in European football’s most prestigious club competition.
Lampard told Metro in response to Mourinho’s comments: ‘Yeah, I mean, I know that, and I know Jose it’s a busy time for Tottenham because of the Europa League. ‘It’s a busy time for us all. They had a free mid-week last week, we didn’t.
‘I know they have a busy week this week. But when I analyse Tottenham and know the squad they have, and analyse what might be a team that maybe didn’t play 90 minutes pretty much yesterday.
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‘They have a fantastic squad, so I feel that any squad Jose will put out can be very strong.
‘I think we all know that the Carabao Cup, for teams like ourselves and Tottenham – who are challenging for the top four and Champions League, like we are – then the Carabao Cup does have its place and we certainly respect it and every tournament we go in we’ll try and win.’
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