Don’t ban naive Dele for video mistake, says Jose

Jose Mourinho has pleaded with the FA’s disciplinary chiefs not to ban Dele Alli for his controversial coronavirus video. Mourinho discussed the matter with Alli when Tottenham returned to training this week after a short break and insists the 23-year-old is aware of his mistake and regrets it. spurs have responded to the FA’s request for observations on the incident and hope to avoid a ban. ‘i feel that would be unnecessary,’ said Mourinho (below). ‘But in relation to these decisions, i am nobody. i think it is unnecessary because the player understands the naivety of the situation. he learned his lesson immediately with the embarrassment. ‘Dele is a great guy. The last thing he is, is anything connected with racism or disrespect. so there was no intention at all. ‘he immediately regrets and immediately makes a public apology. i don’t feel we need more than that. But i am nobody.’ Manchester City’s Bernardo silva was banned for one game and fined £50,000 earlier this season after he posted on Twitter to compare team-mate Benjamin Mendy to a character on the packet of a brand of chocolate. Bernardo said it was a joke between friends nds and not intended to have a racist connotation, but the FA ruled it was likely to have caused insult and offence. it did, however, take almost two months hs from tweet to punishment. spurs will be anxious over the timing of any potential ban as they have games against top-four rivals Chelsea, Wolves and Manchester united in the next four weeks. Alli’s video, in which he appears to mock an Asian man and suggest he is infected with the coronavirus, was posted privately on a snapchat account but soon leaked online and circulated in public. ‘i have a son and daughter basically the same age as Dele,’ said Mourinho. ‘i know what social media is for this generation and when you’re a public person you have to be very, very careful.’ The Tottenham boss revealed his team had been considering a return to Asia in pre-season but said he would need guarantees about safety. he also complained about a fixture schedule which sees spurs return from 11 days without a game to face Aston Villa away tomorrow, rB Leipzig in the Champions League on Wednesday and Chelsea at lunchtime next saturday. ‘There are always big clubs that somehow manage to have better fixtures,’ said Mourinho. ‘i’ll give you a very simple example. on Friday night, Leicester v Wolves. Why? Do they have a Champions League game next week? no. ‘We are the team in england that plays a Champions League game on Wednesday but we don’t play Friday, we don’t play saturday, we play sunday. i don’t think it is normal. The only thing i can say is there is no care. They don’t think how they can hurt an english team.’