EPL: Why I kissed Bentancur after red card against Man United — Tottenham coach

Roberto De Zerbi. Credit: AFP.

Tottenham coach Roberto De Zerbi has disclosed that he kissed Uruguayan midfielder Rodrigo Bentancur in the dressing room after his side’s 1-1 draw against Manchester United on Saturday, to indicate that the club needed to show “character.”

Bentancur was introduced to the game in the 66th minute to replace Lucas Bergvall.

However, his stay on the pitch lasted for only 12 minutes after he had a touchline altercation with United’s left-back Luke Shaw. Bentacur was seen to throw a headbutt in Shaw’s direction, prompting the referee to give him a straight red card.

De Zerbi, who condemned the red card, told Sky Sports on Saturday after the game that the dismissal deserved praise.

“Today, we showed we are a team for the first time this season. We play as a team. We suffer, we dominate the game. But in every situation, we were in the game.

“Football is like this. I think this character, I like the situation with Rodrigo [Bentacur] with the red card. We need it in this moment, this situation. Not to bring a red card, but we have not accepted the defeat. We have to not accept conceding a goal.

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“We have to react in all ways we can. It’s a bad way; it’s not the right way, but I kissed Bentacur in the dressing room because we need this reaction, this type of reaction with character. Football is character,” the Italian stated.

Bryan Mbeumo broke the deadlock for United in the 73rd minute after receiving a pass from Cunha. But the scoreline was later levelled in the 92nd minute with a header from Dominic Solanke.

Solanke said he was excited at the game’s result, noting that the “character shown was magnificent.

“A few times we haven’t reacted in the right way when going a goal down, but today we showed fight and grit. I should have had a hat-trick. I wasn’t clinical enough. I know that. But I kept going. I was getting in the right positions to put one away.

“It’s my first time being captain for a great club. To score as well. It’s something I’ll remember for the rest of my career. It’s something to build on. We haven’t been good enough this (season). Hopefully this is the start of something good.”

He added, “In the first half we dominated. We weren’t clinical enough – a story of the season. We could have been a few goals ahead. We’ll take a point.”