Spurs Boss Mauricio Pochettino Reveals Kane's 'Disappointment' at Reaction to Dubious Goal Award

Spurs boss Mauricio Pochettino has revealed that Harry Kane is "disappointed" at the reaction of some footballers, after the striker was controversially accredited with a goal which was initially given to teammate Christian Eriksen.

Kane gave a plea following the 2-1 victory against Stoke, calling for the Premier League to award him the goal - claiming that it brushed his shoulder on its way past Stoke's Jack Butland - but the dubious goals panel initially decided to hand it to his teammate Eriksen.

However, it was announced last week that the decision had been overturned in favour of Kane.

"After taking the player’s testimony into account and reviewing the match footage, a three-person panel agreed that the final touch on the ball belonged to Kane," an official statement reads on the Premier League website.

After news of Spurs' successful appeal broke on Wednesday, Liverpool's Mohamed Salah was among a number of players to question the decision. The Egyptian star took to Twitter and posted: "Wooooooow really?" Kane's England teammate Jamie Vardy also posted a message on Twitter which implied his surprise at the decision. 

"There is no point to create a problem if you did touch the ball," Pochettino explained in defence of Kane, as quoted by the ECHO.

"Harry is a very honest person and is not going to lie about that. We create a massive issue when it is not an issue.

"I respect their [Liverpool players and Vardy's] opinions. I respect all of their opinions. I respect the people that disagree with Harry, who do not agree with Harry, with the people who were surprised about him claiming it was his goal or not.

"Today everyone can talk, and everyone can give his opinion. We are more than happy to live in a society in most of the world that we feel freedom to talk, to say, to write, to do what we want.

"Why? We need to accept that people have different opinions. I’m sure Harry has accepted that different people have different visions about his actions.

"Kane was disappointed because he never wanted to create this. For you, sometimes, it is a small or simple thing and they become bigger and bigger and bigger and bigger and you cannot stop it.

"That was what happened. He is going to learn a lot from this."

The decision leaves the Spurs striker on 25 league goals for the season as the race for the golden boot continues. He now sits five goals behind Liverpool's Mohamed Salah with six games left to go - although Kane has five games left to score in compared to Salah's four.