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UEFA has clarified the unusual situation regarding Tottenham captain Son Heung-min and two other players initially not receiving Europa League winner’s medals during the trophy ceremony.
Ange Postecoglou’s side earned a 1-0 victory over Man United at the San Mames Stadium in Bilbao on Wednesday night.
Brennan Johnson’s first half goal proved the difference on the night as Spurs ended their 17-year trophy drought.
UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin presented players with medals ahead of the trophy lift.
Ceferin could be seen glancing to another UEFA official as he ran out of medals as the final Tottenham players approached.
Tottenham stars Son Heung-min and Cristian Romero, left, initially missed out on medals during the Europa League trophy presentation
UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin presented the winners medals to Tottenham players
The UEFA representative was observed embracing Tottenham’s Rodrigo Bentancur, vice-captain Cristian Romero, and captain Son during the presentation, yet he couldn’t give them their medals at that moment.
Despite this oversight, Son was eventually able to hoist the Europa League trophy, igniting joyous celebrations, although he did so without a gold winner’s medal.
UEFA have stated the problem was caused by Tottenham sending too many people to receive their medals during the ceremony.
Under UEFA’s competition regulations for the Europa League, both the winning team and runners-up are presented with 50 medals.
The medals can be awarded to players and staff, with no requirements over their number of appearances in the competition.
However, UEFA informed clubs that only 30 medals would be presented on stage to players from each side.
The remaining 20 would then be given to the club post ceremony to distribute.
‘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,’ a UEFA statement read.
Footage showed the moment the UEFA president ran out of medals for Tottenham players
Ceferin was then seen hugging Cristian Romero, before shaking hands with Son
The Tottenham captain was then presented with the Europa League trophy by the UEFA president
Sergio Reguilon, who was unregistered for the competition, was among those to have been given with a medal during the presentation having been among the first players up
UEFA have issued a statement to explain why they had run out of medals in the presentation
The remaining medals were later presented to Tottenham players, including Son
‘The missing medals were promptly delivered to the winning team in the dressing room, along with our sincerest apologies for the oversight.’
Tottenham had sent their 23-man matchday squad to receive medals, along with injured stars including James Maddison, Dejan Kulusevski and Lucas Bergvall.
Several players who had limited involvement in the campaign such as Sergio Regulion, who did not play a minute in the competition, were among those to presented with medals early.
‘I’m not registered, but they’ve brought medals for everyone,’ Regulion told Spanish television post-match.
‘They told me they had 50 medals for everyone who came, and here I am with the same medal even though I didn’t play’.
It left key leadership figures, such as Son and Romero, without medals with the pair last onto the stage for the trophy lift.
Son, Romero and Bentancur, however, were ultimately seen with medals later in the evening after being presented with the honour after the on-pitch celebrations.
