Mauricio Pochettino defended Dele Alli as a “special boy” after the Tottenham midfielder’s horror tackle saw him sent off as Spurs crashed out of Europe on Thursday night. Alli was roundly condemned for his high tackle on Brecht Dejaegere which earned him an instant dismissal, costing Spurs any real chance of making the last-16 of the Europa League.

But Pochettino refused to condemn Alli for the foul, saying that the midfielder understood that he deserved his punishment but now deserved the “support” of his team-mates.

“He’s very disappointed,” Pochettino said. “In football it happens. He knows he made a mistake. It was a sending off. He was wound up, he was fouled three second before. It’s a bad tackle, it deserved the sending off. He knows that. That action always can happen in football.”

This was the first red card of Alli’s Tottenham career but he has had disciplinary problems before, problems which he appeared to have solved this season before tonight. Pochettino praised his character and said that he would learn from the disappointment of Thursday's game.

“Now he’s tried to move on and improve,” Pochettino said. “Only for one year and half he has played in Tottenham in the Premier League. All that he achieved in short period is because he’s a special player, a special boy. He has unbelievable personality and character. For that he’s a great player. Because he’s very passionate about playing football. It’s an action in football that happens. Now it’s time to give support because he’s very sad and disappointed in the changing room.”

Spurs host Stoke City in the Premier League on Sunday and Pochettino said they must forget about the Europa League and try to do as well as possible in the league and the FA Cup for the rest of the season.