Manchester United won at Tottenham Hotspur today 3-1 in a match that was tense and contentious to say the least. The two managers, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and Jose Mourinho, had a miniature war of words before the game. Now they’re in full on feud, and it started when they clashed over a controversial VAR review that disallowed a goal.
United seemingly opened the scoring via a strike by Edinson Cavani, but his teammate, midfielder Scott McTominay had caught Tottenham forward Heung-Min Son in the face with his arm in the build-up. (For part 2 of the news and notes go here)
Premier League has announced that there will be a minute silence for Son Heung-min in next week's games. pic.twitter.com/f9r4scf09h
— Troll Football (@TrollFootball) April 11, 2021
The contact appeared to be minimal, minor and accidental but Son spend a fair amount of time on the turf, trying really hard to sell it. It may have partially worked because referee Chris Kavanagh, and VAR thought it was a major foul.
“The game has gone. Game has absolutely gone,” Solskjaer said to Sky Sports regarding the ruling.
“If that’s a clear and obvious error, it’s an obvious error he had to look at it. It was a perfectly good goal.
“We shouldn’t be conned. I have to say, if my son stays down for three minutes and he needs his 10 mates to help him up, he won’t get any food. We weren’t conned, the referee was.”
Despite Man Utd's win against Spurs, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was far from happy with Son Heung-Min.
"If that was my son… he's not going to get food for a few days."#bbcfootball
— BBC Sport (@BBCSport) April 11, 2021
Son wasn’t hurt too much, as just minutes later he opened the scoring in the game.
This time the goal stood.
Incredible bravery from Son. Who could have been killed by McTominay, but brushes off a mortal wound to finish within minutes. Borderline super human pic.twitter.com/N4NoibuPc1
— Men in Blazers (@MenInBlazers) April 11, 2021
When Solskjaer’s comments were brought to the attention of Mourinho, the Portugese didn’t take it lying down. He hit back at the Norwegian, and he hit back hard.
“First of all, let me tell you something. I’m very, very surprised that after the comments that Ole made on Sonny, you don’t ask me about it,” Mourinho told reporters.
“If it’s me, telling that player A, B or C from another club, if it was my son I wouldn’t give him dinner tonight, what would be the reaction of that?
“It’s very, very sad.
“In relation to that, I just want to say that Sonny is very lucky that his father is a better person than Ole. I am a father. I think as a father you have always to feed your kids.
“Doesn’t matter what they do. If you have to steal to feed your kids, you steal. I’m very, very disappointed.”
Jose Mourinho went in on Solskjaer for his comments about Son Heung-Min ? pic.twitter.com/TTVorffpSW
— ESPN FC (@ESPNFC) April 11, 2021
Expect more back and forth to come this week between these two. As for McTominay, he referred to the call as a “total injustice,” but that the team simply had to put it in the past and move on.
“Personally I’m not a fan of VAR, but the referees have to make decisions. It was a case of keeping calm. Everybody makes mistakes and that’s part and parcel of it,” he said.
“[The disallowed goal] was a total injustice, but you just have to get on with the game. Getting three points in a really difficult game was pleasing.”
As for Son, he took the loss hard. Watch below:
#thfc A very striking club media interview. Son, who looks on verge of tears, told by interviewer that he’s never seen him so low. Feels like a grim mood has taken hold https://t.co/Knybn2R5W7
— Dan Kilpatrick (@Dan_KP) April 11, 2021
We’ll be back shortly with more news and notes from this match.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank, partnered with News Now. Banks, the author of “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry,” has regularly appeared in WGN, Sports Illustrated, Chicago Tribune and SB Nation. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram.
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