Christian Eriksen was once given a man of the match award during Tottenham’s 5-1 defeat over Sunderland back in 2014.

It was an eventful game, to say the least, with Spurs going behind early on thanks to a 30-yard effort from Lee Cattermole that took advantage of an out-of-position Hugo Lloris.

But the north London side proved their resilience and came back to stun their visitors with a five-goal thrashing, largely orchestrated by their midfield playmaker, Eriksen.


The Dane firstly set up Emmanuel Adebayor, who levelled the scores for Tottenham.

He then provided a cross to Harry Kane that saw the England striker net his first-ever Premier League goal for the club before the Dane got on the scoresheet himself.

It was perhaps one of the greatest of his 305 performances for the club, with the 29-year-old going on to amass 90 assists and 69 goals for Tottenham before moving to Inter Milan in 2020.

Christian Eriksen.

And while events on the pitch made for box-office television, the Dane’s man of the match presentation was even better viewing.

A video posted on Sky Sport’s Retro’s YouTube channel in 2020 recaptures the iconic Premier League moment, where Adebayor is given the responsibility of presenting his teammate with his man of the match award.

But in true Adebayor style, the striker jests with Eriksen by shaking his head when asked by the Sky Sports journalist, “Emmanuel, are you going to do the honours?”

“No, I’m not going to give it to him, I will keep it to myself,” the striker says deadpan to the reporter.

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While his response is at first very believable, it becomes quickly clear he is joking, handing the award over to Eriksen.

It may also be fair to say that Adebayor could have won the award himself, with the former Arsenal man scoring a brace of goals during the match.

Eriksen and Adebayor.

But the joke wasn’t finished there, as the striker went on to congratulate his teammate before telling him to give him more assists.

With his arm around Eriksen, he says: “Well done mate, keep going. Give me more assists and I’ll give you more [awards].”

Take a look at the hilarious interaction below…

Comedy gold from Adebayor.

Eriksen, meanwhile, is being linked with a return to the Premier League, with Sky Sports reporting the playmaker is in “advanced talks” to join Brentford, just seven months after he collapsed during Danemark’s Euro 2020 match against Finland.

The playmaker is reportedly set to link up with Thomas Frank’s side on a six-month contract after his contract with Inter Milan was mutually terminated back in December.