‘A big hug and a big kiss’ – Spurs boss De Zerbi defends Tel and hails Maddison’s return in draw with Leeds | OneFootball

Spurs boss Roberto De Zerbi defended Mathys Tel after the forward gave away a penalty for Leeds to equalise in their 1-1 draw at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

Tel had opened the scoring for Tottenham early in the second half with a fantastic strike from outside of the box.

But he was penalised later on in the half when his boot caught Ethan Ampadu on the head while attempting a bicycle-kick clearance inside his own box.

“A big hug and a big kiss,” De Zerbi said when asked what he will say to Tel.

“Nothing more, because he’s a young player, he’s a big talent, he scored a great goal and he made a mistake for the experience because he has not the right experience, he has not played too many games in his career and we have to accept it.

“But I’m proud, I’m happy for the mentality we showed. We didn’t play a great game, like in Villa Park, we played a good game. I think enough to win but we could lose the game in the end.

“Before the last 15 or 20 minutes, they didn’t shoot on our goal, just one in the first half. We had 14 corners, five chances to score against two, we came inside of the goal area 50 times against 27, but we didn’t score two goals.”

The game also saw James Maddison make his long-awaited return from injury after more than a year out, and De Zerbi says he can make a big impact in the final two games.

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“Great news for us,” he said. “He’s a different player, with his quality and as a guy. He will be, I hope, crucial for us.

“Yesterday I spoke with him about his physical condition, about how many minutes he could play. He played more than what he said yesterday.

“We are happy for him.”

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