UEFA have revealed why three Tottenham Hotspur players, including Son Heung-min, did not receive their Europa League winners’ medals on Wednesday night.
It was all celebrations for Ange Postecoglou’s men at San Mames, as they edged past Manchester United in the Europa League by a single goal, scored by Brennan Johnson.
He duly received his medal at the end of the game from UEFA bosses, but not all his teammates were so lucky.
UEFA explain Tottenham’s missing medals
Son, Rodrigo Bentancur and Cristian Romero all left the medals podium empty-handed, despite all playing a part in the final and the previous rounds.
UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin could be seen throwing his fellow officials a glance when he realised they’d run out of medals to present to the Spurs stars.
The governing body have since revealed that the problem arose after Tottenham sent more players to receive a medal than UEFA expected.
Both the winners and runners-up are given 50 medals each to distribute as they see fit, but only 30 are taken out onto the pitch.
In a statement, UEFA said: ‘To our great displeasure, we did not have enough medals available on stage during the trophy ceremony presentation due to an unexpected discrepancy in the player count, as more team members - including injured players - participated in the ceremony than initially anticipated.
“The missing medals were promptly delivered to the winning team in the dressing room, along with our sincerest apologies for the oversight.”
Given that Spurs sent up the likes of Sergio Regulion before captain Son – the former having not played a single minute in the competition – Spurs bear more than a little responsibility for the mix-up themselves, in FourFourTwo’s opinion.
But trophies and silverware have not been a regular occurrence for the Lilywhites of late, so you can forgive a little eagerness in the moment.
Tottenham next face Brighton & Hove Albion when Premier League action returns for the final day this weekend.
