It will be very difficult for Tottenham’s injury-ravaged squad to qualify for next season’s Champions League, says manager Jose Mourinho after their 4-0 aggregate last-16 exit on Tuesday.
Spurs, last season’s runners-up, were missing a number of important players as they lost 3-0 in the second leg to the German side.
Spurs are eighth in the Premier League with 41 points, seven behind Chelsea in fourth place - the final automatic qualifying spot for the Champions League.
Mourinho says: “With the squad we have at the moment it’s going to be very difficult. These problems are not going to disappear tomorrow.
“I think every team in the world would struggle with five or six of their most important players missing, it is as simple as that.
“All the players on the Leipzig bench would play at this moment in my team.”
Spurs host Mourinho’s former club Manchester United on Sunday.
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— Tottenham Hotspur (@SpursOfficial)
He adds: “I’m pretty sure in the next match the boys will go again ready to give everything they can give. That is not easy for them.”