Mourinho saves special praise for ball boy and his goal 'assist'

Tottenham Hotspur boss Jose Mourinho has reserved special praise for a ball boy after Spurs came from two goals down to beat Olympiacos 4-2 in the Champions League on Tuesday.

The victory sends last season's finalists into the knockout stages of the Champions League, but at first it all appeared to be unravelling in Mourinho's first match in charge at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

Spurs found themselves two goals down with Youssef El-Arabi (6th) and Ruben Semedo (19th) stunning the local faithful into silence.

However, Spurs fans found their voice again when Dele Alli netted just before half-time, aided by a defensive blunder, to steer them back into the match.

Captain Harry Kane found the equaliser in the 50th minute, which was followed by Serge Aurier's first goal since January before England skipper Kane scored again in the 77th.

But it was Kane's leveller that drew a mention from Mourinho, who went up to a ball boy after and gave him a hug for his quick return of the ball.

"I love intelligent ball boys, like I was! I was a brilliant ball boy as a kid. And this kid today was brilliant, because he reads the game, he understands the game and he made an assist.

"He made an important assist. So it's a good moment for him and he'll never forget it."

But the former Porto, Chelsea, Inter Milan, Real Madrid and Manchester United boss, who succeeded Mauricio Pochettino last week, was clearly unhappy with his side's defending.

"We need to defend better and when I say defend better we say press better, because the strategy of the game was to press them higher. We didn't do that well.

"I think some of the boys, for me, looked tired. National team weeks aren't easy. They come to play the Saturday and immediately the Tuesday, it's not easy.

"The game at West Ham was very demanding and the pressures around my first match.

"The levels of the intensity were really, really high at West Ham, and today I decided to play with the same team. Maybe I was wrong. Maybe I should have gone for a couple of changes to give us some more energy."

AAP