Tottenham's players were unaware of manager Harry Redknapp's heart operation when they boarded the flight to Russia.

Spurs lost last night's Europa League clash at Rubin Kazan 1-0.

Sebastien Bassong revealed the first the squad knew about Redknapp's heart problems was when they boarded the plane for Russia on Wednesday morning.

"I first found out about it at the airport," Bassong said. "He didn't tell us. I asked and someone told he me wasn't coming.

"Then a couple of hours later someone told me he was in hospital."

Carlo Cudicini, who pulled off a number of top-class saves to stop Rubin winning more convincingly, added: "It's true. We didn't know.

"You ask questions when you don't see the manager so we were surprised. Of course we wish him all the best for his recovery.

"I know he wasn't well a few days before this game but if he had the chance to watch this game he will have watched it."