A video of defender Mohammad Abu Fani telling the Spurs striker to get “on my c*ck” got viral, following that Maccabi Haifa apologized to Tottenham and the club coach Harry Kane.
“I usually don’t attend press conferences, however, I think it was important to speak up this time,” he said.
“One of our players [made] an inappropriate comment following the match in Rostov, Russia, not respecting Tottenham Hotspur player Harry Kane.”
“Such behavior is prohibited by our club. We are a club that, before the player, advocates the person.”
“I would like to take this time to apologize to Tottenham and Harry Kane, who we admire greatly. Thank you very much, we wish them a good season.”
Spurs manager Jose Mourinho and defender Matt Doherty took it in their stride, with the latter acknowledging that the video could act as a bit of inspiration for pre-match.
Mourinho said, “Their last match was in Rostov and they had time for everything after that-they had time to rest, to analyze.”
“Had the time to tactically train the squad and the fact is that right now, my players … the only thing they know about Maccabi is the funny video the player made of us.”
Doherty, who hadn’t seen the video, added: “Really, oh? You can certainly use that.”
“We’re pretty inspired, as it is, with the players we have and the manager we have, I think you can use that to remind them who the managers are here as something a little different.”
“It’s something that could be listed, but first of all I have to see the video, I’m going to have a look after this.”
