Dele Alli admits Spurs have lost confidence after CL exit

Jo Harrison

Dele Alli says Tottenham’s exit from the Champions League is “devastating” and claims they failed to step up.

Spurs were knocked out of Europe at the hands of RB Leipzig in the Round of 16, with the German side winning the second leg 3-0 to condemn Jose Mourinho’s side to a 4-0 aggregate defeat.

With Spurs eighth in the Premier League table, it appears unlikely they will be back in the Champions League next season – and Alli admitted after the game that his teammates have nowhere to hide.

“It’s devastating. We had belief before the game and we didn’t perform,” he told BT Sport. “This is the Champions League, if you don’t step up you will be punished.

“After the first one went in it didn’t change much but we conceded too many chances as a team. It’s hard to come back from those two goals. We had to show our maturity and fight and we didn’t do that.

“We can’t use excuses, we still have quality on the pitch. We are missing good players but that happens. The players coming in have to step up and we haven’t done that today.

“We apologise to the fans, to go out and lose like that, they deserve better.

“We have to fight. We can’t be in the position we are in in the league, we can’t hide. This hasn’t been a good season for us.

“The reality is we are in a bad situation, confidence has gone at the minute.”