Marco Silva refused to criticise Heung-min Son for his tackle on Andre Gomes in Everton’s 1-1 draw with Tottenham on Sunday.
The Toffees midfielder suffered a horrific leg injury following Son’s challenge in the 78th minute, which reduced the Spurs forward to tears as he was sent off by referee Martin Atkinson.
Everton substitute Cenk Tosun scored in the seventh minute of stoppage time to cancel out Dele Alli’s opener in a game which was overshadowed by Gomes’ injury.
Everton boss Silva told talkSPORT: “I just saw it live in the moment of the game. I haven’t seen it on TV, it’s something that’s tough for me to see.
“What I’m 100 per cent sure of, even if I don’t know him personally, but I’ve played many, many times against him, Son did not tackle with that intention [to hurt Gomes].
“This is my feeling. Son, in this moment, is sad in the dressing room, I don’t have doubts about that.
“Something unfortunate can happen in football and unfortunately it happened with Andre Gomes.”
Despite fighting back to earn a draw, Everton remain in 17th place, three points behind next weekend’s opponents Southampton.
Silva believes his side’s team spirit will help them climb the Premier League table.
He said: “We had very good team spirit to show, that moment was a tough moment.
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“So the reaction from our players when they saw Andre there was really tough. But straight after that moment, we had to keep calm.
“I called some players over to give some feedback to them. We had to keep going to try to get the result that maybe we deserved. We didn’t deserve to be losing 1-0.
“They showed a very good reaction, very good spirit, and just with that spirit we can win the points that we need.”