LONDON – Tottenham Hotspur's 15-year-old ball boy Callum Hynes said that helping his team equalise in their Champions League win over Olympiakos Piraeus and being hugged by manager Jose Mourinho for his efforts was the best moment of his life.
The schoolboy was quick to react to the ball going out of play and threw another at full back Serge Aurier, whose throw-in to Lucas Moura allowed the Brazilian to scamper down the right flank and feed striker Harry Kane who scored to make it 2-2.
The goal just after the break was pivotal in a 4-2 win that secured a last-16 spot and images of Mourinho hugging Hynes and giving him a high-five were beamed worldwide on Tuesday.
“It's all a bit surreal, I was just doing my job and I still can't quite believe what happened,” Hynes, in his sixth season as a ball boy, told the official Tottenham website.
“I didn't even see the goal. I was busy getting the ball that had come off and then I heard the cheer. I turned around and Harry was celebrating, I looked at the replay on the screen and watched exactly what happened.
“You can see from my smile it was just unbelievable. Jose didn't have to do that. It was really nice of him to come over to me. It's made my day, my life... I love Spurs and it was an amazing moment I'll never forget.”
Mourinho told the post-match news conference he wanted to bring Hynes to the dressing room to celebrate with the players but the teenager had left the stadium straight after the game because he had to study for an exam the next day.
“The whole way home I was using a torch in the car to go over my maths revision,” he added. His school played ball by agreeing to move his exam to Thursday after his heroics.