Jose Mourinho has tendered his apologies to Tottenham defender Eric Dier after subbing him off in the 29th minute against Olympiacos.
Spurs went down by 2-0 after just 19 minutes into the match and he immediately made a tactical change as the England midfielder was brought off for Christian Eriksen.
And Mourinho's decision paid off as his side pulled one goal back right on the stroke of half time through Dele Alli.
But Mourinho was quick to send his apologies to Dier for taking him off so early during a post-match interview.
"The first thing I want to say, is to apologise to Eric Dier," Mourinho said. "It's not easy for him, and for the staff. It was for the team and to find a solution.
"It was never going to be easy, it was about the team and never the individuals."
The Lily Whites came back stronger in the second half as Harry Kane brought his side back on level terms before Serge Aurier put Spurs in the lead for the first time in the match.
Kane finished scored the fourth for Tottenham which marked his 20th Champions League goal and made him the fastest player to reach the landmark with fewer games.
"Not a bad player to beat," Kane told BT Sport. "It was about qualifying, no matter how we did it but we had to win and we did that.
We can enjoy it and try and deep the momentum for Saturday.
"It was a disappointing start, we know that and did not come out with any energy and they got the two goals and put us under pressure, it was an uphill struggle but we go the goals and it feels good to qualify.
"We needed to be calm especially after scoring. We did not have to rush it and we had a bit of freedom and enjoy it a bit more."
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