Mourinho questions Sterling injury and who is pressuring Southgate

Jose Mourinho has urged England coach Gareth Southgate to name the Premier League managers who pressurise him to rest their players as he questioned Raheem Sterling’s international absence.

Southgate recently claimed England's players faced significant demands from their clubs because of an intense schedule of domestic and European commitments.

Speaking at a pre-match news conference ahead of Spurs' clash with Manchester City, Mourinho cast suspicion on Sterling's withdrawal from Southgate's squad and said "we all know" the forward will play for City on Saturday.

Sterling pulled out of England's squad with a calf injury, while Tottenham's contingent of Harry Kane, Eric Dier and Harry Winks featured in at least two of England's three matches.

Spurs striker Kane even played 76 minutes of their win over Iceland despite the fact England were not able to qualify for the finals of the Nations League.

Mourinho said: "Gareth Southgate, I read, I don't think I'm wrong in what I read, he supposedly said that some football club managers, they put pressure not to play for the national team.

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"And because of that he feels sometimes the need to call club managers to try to cool down the emotions and try to control the difficult situation for him.

"I would like him to say who. I would like him to say which are the coaches who put pressure on the players not to go?

"And I would like him to say which are the coaches that he calls and speaks on the phone with them. Apart from that, he has the right, he has the power to call the players he wants.

"He wants to win matches, especially after a defeat, the next match even being a dead rubber is an important match. I sympathise with that."

Mourinho continued: "And of course we all know Sterling will play tomorrow. When Eric Dier left the national team injured in the previous month, he didn't play two matches for Tottenham.

"He didn't play a Premier League match and a Europa League match. He needed a couple of weeks to recover and Raheem is going to play tomorrow.

"These are the little details I think Gareth should explain to us all. Apart from that, I totally support him in the fact that in the national team, in a country like England, the Three Lions on the shirt is always to be respected and he plays with the players he wants to play."