Thursday Mar 13 2008 07:20
Tottenham head coach Juande Ramos paid tribute to his 'courageous' players after their UEFA Cup exit on penalties to PSV Eindhoven.
Spurs overturned 1-0 first-leg deficit through Dimitar Berbatov's second-half strike to take the round of 16 tie against the Netherlands side into extra-time.
But after a goalless extra 30 minutes, Spurs lost the penalty shootout 6-5 following Pascal Chimonda's sudden-death miss.
Jermaine Jenas had missed Spurs' last penalty of the regulation five which would have sealed their passage into the quarter-finals.
"We can have no regrets because we wanted to win the match on the night and we did that," Ramos told the club's official website.
"It came down to penalties and if JJ had scored, we'd have gone through. It's heads or tails.
"Every player who takes a penalty is courageous, so I can only congratulate those players for their courage.
"Everybody is sad because we did everything we could and came so close to going through, but it wasn't to be."
Meanwhile, Ramos has now challenged his players to finish their season strongly.
"We still have two months of league football left, so I hope the players can lift themselves back up for these games," he added.
"The players are all professionals and know that they can win or lose, so now we have to just focus on the next game against Manchester City on Sunday."
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