De Zerbi praises Bentancur after red card as Solanke salvages 1-1 draw at Old Trafford
Roberto De Zerbi praised Rodrigo Bentancur after the Uruguay midfielder was sent off during Tottenham's 1-1 draw with Manchester United at Old Trafford on 10 October 2026. Despite being reduced to 10 men, Spurs earned a second-minute-of-added-time equaliser through Dominic Solanke to claim a point.
The red card followed a feisty 78th-minute altercation in which Bentancur, a substitute, was shown a red card for headbutting Luke Shaw after Shaw had shoved him off the pitch following a reckless challenge. Stuart Attwell sent Bentancur off after team-mates separated the pair, with Tottenham trailing 1-0 at the time. "I kiss Rodrigo and say thanks," De Zerbi said in his post-match press conference.
De Zerbi described Bentancur's reaction as a "mistake" but defended its impact on the game, adding: "In that moment maybe with 10 players we played with more courage, more energy. "For a long time Tottenham played without this blood, this character." He told Sky Sports: "I kissed Bentancur in the dressing room because we need this type of reaction, this character. Football is character." He also said: "I liked the situation with the red card. We need at this moment the situation, not to bring a red card but we need to not accept the defeat."
Tottenham pressed well in the first half and, according to the report, ran United ragged early on with fluid, high-tempo football. De Zerbi said: "Today has been the game where for the first time this season we showed we are a team," and added: "We played for the team-mates, we played together, we stayed inside of the game in every situation and we attacked as a team and defended as a team." He later said: "I'm very happy because I've seen the right spirit, the right character and I want to start from this character, this reaction, this behaviour."
The result leaves Tottenham winless after six Premier League games, occupying a place in the relegation zone with three points from their opening six matches. The club recorded only their fourth failure to win each of their opening six league games in a season, following 2008-09, 1955-56 and 1912-13, and have scored three goals this campaign, a total only 19th-placed Coventry have scored fewer than.
Tottenham spent more than £250m on new arrivals over the summer, adding 10 players to the squad, and the club has arranged a warm-weather training camp in Spain, with the team expected to travel to Marbella on Sunday. De Zerbi said: "Now the target is to build the team," and added: "We are a great group of players but we are not a team yet and to be a team is to play for the team-mates, suffer together, attack together."
Spurs' next scheduled fixture is against newly-promoted Coventry on Monday, 19 October, followed by a short trip to Chelsea the following Saturday.
