Thankfully for Eric Dier, Jose Mourinho was able to laugh about his unexpected toilet break after Tottenham Hotspur beat Chelsea on penalties in the Carabao Cup on Tuesday night.
The mood would likely have been less lighthearted if the result had gone a different way but Jose Mourinho didn’t hold it against Eric Dier when the England star had to race off the pitch midway through the second half.
Dier disappeared down the tunnel, despite the fact that he hadn’t been subbed off, and Mourinho stormed after him.
What's going on here?! ?
Eric Dier disappears off the pitch and Jose Mourinho marches off after him into the tunnel. Before long the Spurs midfielder is back out there in the middle.
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The pair emerged moments later when it became clear that it was a straightforward case of Dier needing to relieve himself.
“He [Mourinho] wasn’t happy, but there wasn’t anything I could do about it,” Dier said after the match.
“Nature was calling! I heard there was a chance, but thankfully they didn’t take it.”
While both Dier and Mourinho were able to chuckle about the incident after the game, the Spurs manager did take the opportunity to suggest the bathroom break had something to do with his side’s hectic fixture schedule.
Mourinho told Sky Sports: “He had to go. There was no other chance. He had to go. Maybe it’s a normal thing when you are dehydrated.
“I knew he had to go but I just wanted to put some pressure on him.
“What happened to Eric Dier is not normal. I have to praise him in a special way.
“So many rules should be forbidden for a player to play in 48 hours of this intensity. What Eric Dier did is not human to do.”
Dier was first up to score in the penalty shootout after Spurs’ Eric Lamela equalised late on in normal time. Both Spurs and Chelsea were perfect from the spot until the visitors’ last penalty, when Mason Mount failed to find the net.
Mourinho sprinted down the tunnel in celebration but, this time, there was no panicked Dier waiting for him.