Jose Mourinho rests four Tottenham regulars and explains why he’s learning German ahead of Champions League clash with Bayern Munich

Harry Kane, Dele Alli, Jan Vertonghen and Serge Aurier have all been left at home for their final Group B clash on Wednesday, where both teams have already qualified for the knockout stages.

A host of players who have yet to feature with any regularity will get the chance at the Allianz Arena and Mourinho has challenged them to make an impression.

“One thing that I am not having is time, when I say time, I mean to know all my players well,” he said.

“This is a great opportunity for some of them to play, for some of them to show what they are capable of.

“A player in competition is different to a player training, some of my boys didn’t have the chance to play many minutes in these five matches since I arrived.

“We try to mix a little bit these factors. We need to play for Tottenham, that is our responsibility but at the same time there are other things.

“We are going to have as you all know an incredible number of fixtures until the new year and I think it is understandable that we are going to make a few changes and we are going to rest a few players and give opportunities to other players.”

Bayern are confirmed as group winners, having won their first five games, including a 7-2 hammering of Spurs in the reverse fixture in October.

That was before Mourinho had joined the club, though he has watched the match back and has no intention of showing it to his players again.

“I forbid any image of it,” Mourinho said. “I watched it a couple of times: me, my staff and analysts try to go through every single aspect of that but not one single image for the boys.

“We’re going to focus more on us than on Bayern. We’re going to try to develop our model of play, with different bodies, different phases, different players.”

Mourinho brings his side to the Allianz Arena, a place he might have managed after he was linked with the Bayern job before his Spurs appointment.

The Portuguese has also learned German, which would have heightened speculation, but he insists he does not allow himself to pondering managing the five-time European champions due to his happiness at Spurs.

“I don’t imagine myself at Bayern Munich only for only reason: I’m so happy with my job, I don’t look to the next step,” he admitted.

“The motivation is to learn. I was not working for a few months. Curiosity.

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