Villrreal’s Juan Foyth opens up about José Mourinho’s methods to put pressure on players while at Tottenham Hotspur.
The centre-back came up against the former Tottenham boss in the La Liga side’s 1-0 loss to Real Madrid last Saturday.
Referee Isidro Díaz de Mera Escuderos grabbed headlines for sending off Vinícius Júnior in the 72nd minute. Yan Diomande opened the scoring in the 62 minutes and the Brazilian thought he had doubled Real Madrid’s lead.
However, the referee, after reviewing, not only cancelled his goal but also sent him off for pulling Villarreal midfielder Nathan Saliba’s hair during the buildup.
Mourinho skipped the post-match press conference, and he reportedly did it to avoid saying something that could land him in trouble.
Former Tottenham man aware of Mourinho’s antics
In his post-match interview, Juan Foyth, who captained Villarreal, defended the referee for sending off Vinícius Júnior. Defensa Central have relayed his comments.
The 28-year-old then talks about José Mourinho’s management, something he knows well from Tottenham Hotspur.
He was at the Premier League side between 2017 and 2021 and left them permanently for Villarreal. The current Real Madrid boss was at Spurs between November 2019 and April 2021. Foyth played 32 matches for Tottenham and only three were under Mourinho.
After defending the match official, the defender refused to talk about the former Spurs boss.
“I think he did a good job. Obviously, if you’re complaining about every little thing, every single incident, demanding yellow cards, demanding red cards… the referee is also human and can make mistakes,” he said.
“I’m not going to talk about Mourinho. I know him; I played with him at Tottenham. Ultimately, that’s always been his way, trying to put pressure on the players from the sidelines. He did the same with us at Tottenham, and well, it worked for him, right? Anyway, I have nothing bad to say about him.”
Ex-Spurs man cautious with his responses
The South American says he also doesn’t want to analyse Isidro Díaz de Mera Escuderos’ every decision from the last defeat.
“These are just different ways of understanding football. I don’t want to get into any controversy or make any strange statements,” Juan Foyth explained.
“I don’t know, I think the referee did the right thing in a very complicated situation where Real Madrid desperately needed the three points. Congratulations to Real Madrid; they got the three points, and well, we’ll obviously correct the mistakes we made.”
Foyth was measured with his take on the former Tottenham coach and the referee. The outlet further adds he was also ‘very political’ with his responses on these two topics.
