Tottenham's Son Heung-min looked on the verge of tears during his interview after Sunday's 3-1 defeat to Manchester United.
The usually cheerful forward was involved in first-half controversy at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. He went down after catching a hand in his face from Scott McTominay, causing a Man United goal to be disallowed after a VAR review.
Son himself then put Spurs 1-0 up minutes later. But United scored three in the second half as Tottenham once again dropped points from a winning position - leaving Spurs six points outside the Premier League top four and Son visibly heartbroken.
Struggling to contain his emotion with his voice wavering, the 28-year-old apologised to Tottenham fans in an interview with the club's social media channels post-match.
"I'm really disappointed this afternoon. I really don't know what to say," Son began. "I'm really sorry about it and I feel bad.
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"There's always been passion from outside, from this stadium - and those who support us I know are really, really disappointed. I think they're even more disappointed than us, so feel really bad and sorry about it. A really sad afternoon."
Asked about his opening goal and Spurs bright start, Son sighed deeply and tried to compose himself before replying: "I'm really not bothered about the goal.
"I really wanted to win because, especially after the last game as well I came on half-time back from injury, we were leading and [we] drew and especially to play today I really, really wanted to win and I really did you know. I really don't know what to say."
The interviewer later spoke for all of us when he said that he'd known Son for six years and gone through many interviews, but he'd never seen the player look so low.
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"It's a really sad afternoon because..." Son replied, pausing to rub his face. "I really don't know what to say. I know it sounds really crazy and it sounds really not normal that I'm down but it's about the results.
"If we win I'm really happy and if we lose I'm really down for two or three days. So yeah, what can I say, we have to bounce back next Friday."
Tottenham travel to Everton on Friday, host Southampton the following midweek and then have a Carabao Cup final against Manchester City. But Jose Mourinho's side go into those games on the back of disappointing league form and a shock, Europa League exit to Dinamo Zagreb in March.
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Son was criticised after the match by United boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer for overreacting to McTominay's hand in his face (although the contact was definitely there). However it's clear that the likeable Son was taking this defeat as hard as any Spurs fan.
That was obvious from the emption on the South Korean star's face during an interview where he was clearly, deeply upset about his team's on-pitch woes.
Featured image credit: Tottenham Hotspur/Twitter
Featured Image Credit:Topics: Tottenham Hotspur, Manchester United, Premier League, Son Heung-Min
