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Dier explains mid-game bathroom break: 'Nature was calling'

Pool / Getty Images Sport / Getty

As the old adage says, when you have to go, you have to go.

Eric Dier delivered a moment of levity during Tuesday's tense League Cup match against Chelsea, racing off the pitch for a brief bathroom break in the second half of Spurs' eventual shootout win.

Cameras caught manager Jose Mourinho going into the dressing room to retrieve the versatile Englishman, who was playing his second game in three days amid a congested week for Tottenham.

"(Jose) wasn't happy but there was nothing I could do about it, really. Nature was calling," Dier said after the match. "I heard there was a chance (for Chelsea) when I wasn't on the pitch, but thankfully they didn't score and we've ended up with the win."

Tottenham equalized late - after Dier returned - to send the match to penalties. They were perfect from the spot en route to the 5-4 triumph.

"He had to go, no other chance, he had to go," Mourinho said. "Maybe it's a normal thing when you are completely dehydrated, when you have nothing in your muscles, which was the case. I knew that he had to go, but I was just trying to put some pressure on him to have him back for the remaining time."

Mourinho has been outspoken about his displeasure over a fixture list that has Tottenham playing four matches in eight days.

"Of course, if the football authorities don't care about players, I care, so of course Eric Dier cannot play the match on Thursday," he added.

Spurs meet Maccabi Haifa in a Europa League playoff on Thursday before closing out their busy stretch against Manchester United on Oct. 4.

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