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UEFA have explained why Tottenham captain Son Heung-min was one of three players who didn’t receive a Europa League winner’s medal during the official trophy presentation, calling it an unusual mistake.
Tottenham beat Manchester United 1-0 on Wednesday night at the San Mames Stadium in Bilbao, with Brennan Johnson scoring the only goal in the first half. The win ended Spurs' 17-year wait for a trophy.
However, during the medal ceremony, three players, including Son, were left without medals. UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin handed out medals to players before the trophy lift, but he appeared to run out just as the final Tottenham players came forward.
He was seen glancing at another UEFA official and hugging Rodrigo Bentancur, Cristian Romero, and Son instead of giving them medals.
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Son still got to lift the Europa League trophy, starting the celebrations, but he did so without a medal around his neck.
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In a statement, UEFA explained that Tottenham had sent too many people to the stage. Europa League rules say that both the winners and runners-up are given 50 medals, which can be handed out to players and staff regardless of how much they played.
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However, clubs were told that only 30 medals would be given out on stage. The rest would be passed to the club after the ceremony.
UEFA's explanation on medal shortage
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.
They added that the missing medals were quickly sent to the dressing room, along with apologies.
Tottenham had sent their full 23-man matchday squad, plus injured players like James Maddison, Dejan Kulusevski and Lucas Bergvall. Some players, like Sergio Reguilon, who didn’t play in the competition, also got medals.
Reguilon said:
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.
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Later in the night, Son, Romero, and Bentancur were seen wearing their medals after receiving them post-match.