Leeds United sank to just their second defeat in five matches as Jose Mourinho’s Champions League-chasing Tottenham Hotspur side strolled to a 3-0 victory yesterday.
Harry Kane, Son Heung-min and Toby Alderweireld delivered the goals for the hosts at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, but here are a few of the moments you may have missed.
Mourinho’s charm offensive
If you have watched Amazon Prime Video’s All or Nothing: Tottenham Hotspur series, you will know how charming Mourinho can still be.
In recent years, it has been difficult to find the charming, charismatic, entertaining Mourinho many came to appreciate during his first tenure at Chelsea.
However, it was clear Mourinho was performing at his captivating best when it came to speaking with United’s own players once they had descended upon north London.
Kiko Casilla, former his goalkeeper at Real Madrid, Patrick Bamford, formerly his striker at Chelsea, and Jack Harrison, who has never played under him, circled the Portuguese by the dugouts pre-match.
After the match it was a similar story as Raphinha, a fellow Portuguese speaker, spared a few moments chatting with Mourinho between their media duties.
French connection
Illan Meslier has not been on the record in the UK about any idols, but it is difficult to imagine Hugo Lloris is far from the top of the list.
An experienced goalkeeper who captained their beloved France to the World Cup title ticks more than a few boxes in Meslier’s dream career scenarios.
It would have been touching for him, then, to receive some brief encouragement from his opposite number in the tunnel pre-match and more of a lasting embrace after the full-time whistle.
Boys from Brazil
As well as Mourinho, before the post-match interviews kicked off, Raphinha spent several minutes in the centre circle after the full-time whistle with two compatriots in the Spurs camp.
Lucas Moura and Carlos Vinicius, four years and one year his senior respectively, were happy to share time together once the game had finished.
Shackleton hits a half-century
Jamie Shackleton continues to develop into one of the club’s finest academy exports in recent years.
Yesterday’s appearance from the bench was his 50th regular season league appearance for United.
The 21-year-old has made 58 appearances in total for the first team, but six of those were either in cups or the play-offs of Bielsa’s first season.
It’s 50 regular league outings now for Shackleton, who becomes the first Thorp Arch prospect to achieve that feat since Ronaldo Vieira in 2018, according to @lufcyouth on Twitter.
