Tottenham star admits hurt at being overlooked by Jose Mourinho

Toby Alderweireld has denied he has a problem with Jose Mourinho despite venting his frustration at being overlooked for Tottenham’s game against Royal Antwerp recently.

Alderweireld was looking forward to playing in his home city for the first time when Tottenham travelled to Antwerp for a Champions League clash last month.

However, Mourinho left him on the bench for the game, instead picking Davinson Sanchez and Ben Davies at centre-back. Spurs went on to lose 1-0.

With Tottenham looking for an equaliser rather than focusing on defence, Mourinho used his five substitutions to introduce attacking players into the fray, rather than defenders like Alderweireld. However, he did admit that he would have changed all 11 players if he could have.

That was obviously not possible, and hence, the Belgium international missed a rare opportunity to play close to home. Now, he has admitted that he was not particularly happy about it – but sees little point in making too much of a fuss.

“In my head I cursed that I did not play against Antwerp,” he told VTM (via Sport Witness).

“I would have liked to play against Antwerp, I certainly admit. But Mourinho is fine.

“He is very hard. But if you work and go through the fire for him, he will be on your side.

“For example, if you are going to make things difficult if you are not allowed to play against Antwerp, then he will drop you.”

Alderweireld seeing less action in Europe

All five of Alderweireld’s appearances in the Premier League this season have been starts, while he has sat on the bench for their other three games.

He also got 90 minutes under his belt against Chelsea in the Carabao Cup. However, in Europe, Mourinho has not given him as much gametime.

After playing in two qualifiers for the Europa League, Alderweireld has featured just once in the group stage so far.

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The 31-year-old has generally been a reliable figure in his five years with Tottenham. Hence, he earned a contract renewal last year to extend his deal until 2023.

However, the club were recently told that he was now just an “okay” defender and would not be good enough to lead them to a trophy.

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