Jose Mourinho has claimed that Josh Dasilva’s challenge on Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg during Tottenham’s win over Brentford last night was an extremely dangerous one but admitted that he expects the midfielder to be fit for the club’s FA Cup clash this weekend.
With just five minutes left on the clock, Dasilva lunged in for the ball in midfield and caught Hojbjerg high on his shin.
While referee Mike Dean did not initially blow for a foul, VAR intervened and asked him to re-watch the challenge on the pitchside monitor.
Replays clearly showed that Dasilva did not get anything on the ball and caught the Spurs midfielder with his studs showing, leaving Dean with little choice but to show the Brentford man a straight red card.
Hojbjerg was furious at the tackle and had to be withdrawn by Jose Mourinho as a precaution.
Dasilva has since taken to social media to apologise for the challenge and insisted that he did not mean it, while Hojbjerg accepted the midfielder’s apology and sent him a classy response.
Mourinho said in his post-match interview that Dean was right to give Dasilva his marching orders but admitted that Hojbjerg should be fit for the weekend.
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When asked about the tackle, the Spurs boss told Football.London: “It was for sure a bad tackle because he is bleeding a lot and the shin pad is broken, That is football.
“Dasilva is a young guy and a good player so in the heat of the game there is nothing to be critical of.
“Mike Dean made the decision on VAR so everything is fine and correct.
“Pierre has a big cut but he didn’t even want me to play Tanganga in the last five minutes so I believe he can be OK for the weekend.”
Spurs Web Opinion
It is good to see that neither Hojbjerg nor Mourinho have been too critical of Dasilva. While the challenge was certainly deserving of a red card, I do not think the 22-year-old wanted to injure Hojbjerg. He simply took a swipe at the ball and missed and caught the Spurs midfielder high on his foot.
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