'I was rude to an idiot' - Mourinho admits he 'clearly deserved' yellow card after wandering into Southampton technical area

Jose Mourinho conceded that he deserved the yellow card he was shown during Wednesday's loss to Southampton as the Tottenham manager admitted that he was "rude to an idiot".

The Portuguese was cautioned by referee Mike Dean after entering the Southampton technical area as he approached a member of Ralph Hasenhuttl's staff and appeared to glance at a paper displaying Southampton's tactics.

And Mourinho admitted that he certainly deserved to be punished for his actions while adding a blatant dig in the process.

"I was rude. But I was rude with an idiot," he told BT Sport. "I clearly deserved the yellow card. I had bad words with the guy."

The incident came just moments after Spurs saw a potential equalising goal from Harry Kane disallowed.

Kane was deemed offside as he found the back of the net with just over 15 minutes remaining in what proved to be Spurs' best chance of an equaliser.

Tottenham were playing without Heung-min Son due to suspension, and Mourinho was left without a top-level striker late on as Kane limped off with an apparent hamstring injury after seeing his goal disallowed. 

Mourinho's side had gone behind in the 17th minute, with Danny Ings firing what proved to be the game's lone goal for Southampton.

And Mourinho did fire some criticism towards the officiating, although he said that he was unsure about the particular incident, while pointing out a potential penalty claim involving Dele Alli.

"For me, at this moment, the referees are not the referees. VAR should be called video referees," Mourinho said after the match.

"Our goal I also don’t know but I confess that I didn’t watch it yet. What I know is that the Dele Alli penalty was a penalty."

Spurs currently sit sixth in the Premier League, six points away from fourth-place Chelsea and that coveted Champions League spot.

Mourinho and Tottenham will face Middlesbrough in the third round of the FA Cup on Sunday before hosting league leaders Liverpool in their next Premier League outing.