Tottenham Hotspur drew 1-1 with Leeds United but Mathys Tel went from hero to villain
Roberto De Zerbi says he will kiss and hug Tottenham Hotspur forward Mathys Tel who went from hero to villain in their draw with Leeds United on Monday night. The young French forward had opened the scoring for Spurs in the 50th minute in what was a huge goal in their fight for Premier League survival.
The win would have moved De Zerbi's men four points clear of West Ham United and the relegation zone with just two games left to play. However, Tel gave away a penalty trying an acrobatic clearance with Jamie Carragher claiming De Zerbi would be furious about the incident.
The French forward tried an overhead kick inside the area to clear the danger, but Ethan Ampadu rushed in to make first contact with the ball with his head.
Referee Jared Gillett was left with no choice but to point to the spot, with Leeds United forward Dominic Calvert-Lewin converting the penalty.
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However, despite Carragher's criticism the Spurs boss came out in defence of the 21-year-old claiming the incident could happen to any young player.
Speaking to Sky Sports, De Zerbi said: "He is young and is a talent. I will kiss him and hug him. He doesn't need too many words. He was sorry for the mistake, it can happen to a young player."
Reflecting on the incident, on Sky Sports' Monday Night Football, Carragher said: "It's just a crazy decision from Tel. What you think sometimes is we've been there sometimes as players where you don't see the opposition player coming in.
"But he's about to make his decision and he sees him, he looks. So he's made his decision but as soon as he knows there's someone there, it has to change.
"He still has time, he's got to change his mind. I thought he hadn't seen him initially, but he has. It's a really, really poor decision. We're talking about a young attacking player, making two ridiculous decisions in this game.
"De Zerbi will be furious - but he's got to remember he's a young attacking player who has actually made a massive difference to Spurs right now.
"He came off the bench at Wolves, got the corner and the winning goal. He set up the second goal at Villa, and he scored the goal tonight.
"He needs him, because they haven't got players with injuries but there's a player there. We've seen that in the last couple of games.
"You'd be going nuts, but the good at the other end - everything we showed that was good from Spurs in the first half, and then he scored the goal in the second half.
"That's the art of management, and De Zerbi knows that a lot better than me."