Spurs ‘bent’ UEFA medal rules after ending 17-year trophy drought with Europa League triumph

Spurs are said to have ‘bent’ UEFA’s rules on winners’ medals after their Europa League triumph ended a 17-year trophy drought.

Previously viewed as serial losers after a series of defeats in finals, Spurs beat Manchester United 1-0 in the all-English final in Bilbao courtesy of Brennan Johnson’s goal at the end of the first half.

It was their first bit of silverware since the League Cup win in 2008 under Juande Ramos, with Ange Postecoglou winning in his second season as promised and also securing qualification to next season’s Champions League.

Captain Heung-Min Son had the honour of lifting the Europa League trophy at the San Mames Stadium with his teammates.

Injured players who were not in the squad were part of their celebrations, with James Maddison doing his best impression of John Terry by putting his full kit on.

However, the 28-year-old revealed that after being in a club suit and t-shirt, he was told he had to change into the kit in order to collect a medal.

The likes of Dejan Kulusevski followed suit, with The Athletic reporting that it is a UEFA requirement for all players to be sporting the kit for a medal presentation.

James Maddison had his full kit on for the Europa League trophy lift. Image: Getty

However, the Spurs stars did their own take on the rules as they wore Nike sports socks rather than football ones.

Kulusevski recently underwent surgery on a knee injury and he was given special exemption to wear just the shirt – instead continuing to don his suit pants along with a large brace.

Dejan Kulusevski was allowed to wear his shirt after his recent knee injury. Image: Getty

Spurs receive UEFA apology after winners’ medals issue

The trophy lift and images which followed after confused viewers as Spurs skipper Son did not have a medal on, nor did Rodrigo Bentancur and Cristian Romero despite playing the full game.

UEFA then confirmed there was an “unexpected discrepancy” which resulted in there not being enough medals for president Aleksander Ceferin to hand out.

Those who did not receive the memento right away did not have to wait long as they were given out in the dressing room.

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.”