Jose Mourinho joked that Harry Kane probably doesn’t bother keeping his hat-trick balls anymore, after the Tottenham forward bagged his latest treble.
Kane hit three as Spurs qualified for the Europa League group stage in style, beating Maccabi Haifa 7-2 with Dele Alli, Giovani Lo Celso and Lucas Moura also on the scoresheet.
“He’s scored so many hat-tricks that I don’t even believe that he keeps every ball at home,” Mourinho told Premier Sports.
“But it’s always nice to score. It was good that we managed to save him 15 minutes, and of course, again, the team is the most important thing and we did it.”
Alli has been strongly linked with a move away from north London after being left out of recent matchday squads, with Paris Saint-Germain reported to be attempting a move.
However, Mourinho said he was pleased with Alli’s contribution on Thursday after he won a penalty and scored it himself.
“Yeah, he was good,” Mourinho said. “He came well into the game and the action for the penalty is a beautiful one.
“In a short space, he gets very, very well in there and then he was serious and cool and professional. He took it well.”
Mourinho admitted he didn’t think Spurs had played that well, despite the emphatic scoreline.
“We didn’t play amazing. The game was a bit strange; it was too open.
“In my opinion, they were too adventurous to play against a team of a different level and we punished them in this kind of transition situations.
“But at the same time, we were not very compact. We didn’t press very well. I think with early goals, the team lost a little bit of focus.
“Job done, not three good opponents, but difficult to travel to go to knockout matches, only one game in empty stadiums. So job done, we are in the group phase.”
Tottenham’s next game sees them return to Premier League action against Mourinho’s former side Manchester United, and he said goalscorer Lo Celso was the only new injury worry ahead of that encounter.
Heung-min Son is not expected to be fit until after the international break, but Mourinho said he couldn’t 100 per cent rule him out for the trip to Old Trafford on Sunday.
