Mystery solved: Erik Lamela missed Spurs match for the birth of his son

Ahead of Tottenham Hotspur’s 1-1 draw against West Bromwich Albion today, the big rumor was that Erik Lamela was finally — finally! — going to be on the bench for a first team match, the first time we would’ve seen him in a match day 18 in over a year.

That didn’t happen. Lamela was left out of the squad, and a lot of Spurs fans on social media were either upset at Mauricio Pochettino for not including him, or worried that he had suffered a setback in his recovery from two hip surgeries.

It turns out, the answer might have been a lot simpler — Lamela missed the match to welcome into the world his new baby. Erik posted a photos and a video of him with his significant other and newborn son in the hospital on his Instagram page, and the whole of Spurs social media went D’AWWWWWWWWWWWWWW.

There’s football, and then there are TRULY magical moments like those. I’d say that’s a pretty darn good reason to miss a football game. !Feliz cumpleaños, Lamelito! Can we sign him to the academy yet, and can he play striker?