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Has José Mourinho grown?
No, the gates in Skopje were just too small
Photo:
Srdjan Stevanovic / Getty Images
The Europa League qualification regularly leads teams from the top European leagues to unusual trips away from home.
Tottenham Hotspur experienced this too: Before the game at the North Macedonian club Shkendija Tetovo, the Spurs goalkeepers made their coach José Mourinho aware that the goals were too small.
Mourinho made his own impression and confirmed the suspicions of his keepers Hugo Lloris and Joe Hart - "of course", as he said after the game: "The goalkeepers spend hours and hours in goal, they know when a goal is not the right size ".
The delegation of the European football association Uefa then measured, in fact the goal was five centimeters smaller than allowed.
According to the regulations of the world association Fifa, the lower edge of the bar must be 2.44 meters from the ground.
The game was even moved to the North Macedonian capital Skopje.
The stadium in Shkendija in the north-west of the country did not comply with UEFA regulations, so the national stadium was played.
Mourinho was apparently so impressed by the situation that he had photos taken for the social networks.
"I thought I had grown, but the goal was two inches lower," wrote the Portuguese star coach on Instagram.
The French national goalkeeper Lloris had himself photographed as he touched the bar on tiptoe and without much effort.
At 1.88 meters, Lloris is considered a rather small goalkeeper.
His colleague Hart, who stood between the posts against Shkendija, measures 1.96 meters for comparison.
The fact that Spurs were able to smile about the situation in retrospect was also due to the result of the game: Erik Lamela (5th minute), Heung-min Son (70th) and Harry Kane (79th) scored 3-1 (1-0). ) the goals for Tottenham, Shkendijas Valmir Nafiu had meanwhile equalized.
With the victory, the Premier League club reached the final qualifying round, the so-called playoffs.
There Tottenham will meet Israeli club Maccabi Haifa in the coming week.
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hba / Reuters