Tottenham 'Astonished' at Marca Report Stating Club Are 'Hated' Due to Jewish Origins

Tottenham Hotspur have been left "astonished" by claims from Marca, Spain's biggest-selling newspaper, that the north London club are "hated" because of their Jewish origins. 

The Madrid-based sports daily publication printed the claim within an article previewing Spurs' arrival for their Champions League clash with Los Blancos on Tuesday evening. 

The piece, bylined to the organisation's senior reporter Enrique Ortega, claimed that rival fans "hated' the Lilywhites as a result of their formation 135 years ago. 

"Their Jewish origin has made them into a club disliked by rival fans, but in their 135 years of existence they have always had style and great players", read Monday's edition of Marca, as cited by ESPN. 

Understandably, Tottenham did not take kindly to the ill-tasted piece, issuing a response following their discovery. 

"We are astonished that a publication such as Marca, which presents itself as an alleged source of professional journalism, has seen fit to publish such an article which is blatantly wrong and wholly distasteful", Spurs replied.

Although the north London club historically does possess a large Jewish following, Spurs was actually founded by members of Hotspur Cricket Club in 1882 in conjunction with a Bible class teacher from the local church.

However, the Spanish news outlet was not yet done, digging itself into a deeper hole by then accusing both Chelsea and West Ham United of harbouring "radical and racist groups" within their fan base in their attempts to defend the piece. 

"The article published today in Marca about the history of Tottenham, Real Madrid's next rival, aimed to give a general brushstroke of Spurs, a club with enormous tradition in British football and across all the continent 'always praised for its good footballing taste'", the statement on Marca's official website read. 

"The fame of the team, their permanent selection during their 135 years of quality players, their records, ambition to outdo themselves... all these ideas were within an article which, nonetheless, has generated controversy in England for a mistranslation of the word 'odiado,' which is used in the text.

"This 'hate' which Tottenham suffers is very focused on radical and racist groups who hide themselves within the fan-bases of, especially, Chelsea and West Ham. Obviously, these groups do not in any way represent the fans or English society.

"I regret the confusion which has been created in this respect. The intention was not to harm the image of Tottenham, a club we respect, value and admire -- without going any further one of their players was on our cover today -- and we would never want to act as a loudspeaker for these racist minorities, of which football has too many, and who use any pretext to spread their messages of hate, which we reject completely."