Maccabi Haifa have issued an apology to Tottenham Hotspur Football Club  ahead of tonight’s Europa League play-off game after one of their team posted a video in which he grabbed his crotch and made a degrading comment about Spurs captain Harry Kane.

The Israeli football team’s midfielder Mohammad Abu Fani posted a short video clip that quickly went viral, in which he shouted: ”Harry Kane on my c**k.”

The 22 year-old midfielder had made the film in the dressing room as he and his team mates celebrated a victory in the tournament last week  that set up this week’s game in north London.

But Maccabi Haifa chief executive Assaf Ben-Dov attended a pre-match press conference ahead of Thursday’s game to release a statement. He said: “I do not usually attend press conference but this time I felt it necessary to speak up.

“Following the match in Rostov, Russia, one of our players (made an) inappropriate comment that does not respect Tottenham Hotspur player Harry Kane.

“Our club condemns such behaviour. We are a club that advocates the person before the player.

“I would like to take this opportunity to apologise to Tottenham and Harry Kane, who we greatly respect. We wish them a successful season, thank you very much.”

Spurs manager Jose Mourinho referenced the video during his pre-match conference.

He said of his team “the only thing they know about Maccabi is the funny video that the player did about us.”

Spurs defender Matt Doherty said that while he had not viewed the video, it would definitely spur his side on.

Abu Fani had scored the winner in Maccabi Haifa’s 2-1 victory against FC Rostov in the previous Europa League game. Thursday’s match sees the winners qualify for the group stages of the tournament and earning around £15 million for doing so.