Jorge Jesus, Tim Sherwood
Benfica coach Jorge Jesus, left, irritated Tottenham boss Tim Sherwood throughout their Europa League encounter. Reuters

As his team prospered on the pitch, Benfica coach Jorge Jesus provided plenty of entertainment on the sidelines and went a little too far goading his counterpart Tim Sherwood.

After Benfica had gone in front against Tottenham in the first leg of their Europa League tie on Thursday, Jesus appeared to wag a finger in the direction of the opposition bench. When the visitors to White Hart Lane then went 3-1 up on the night, the Portuguese boss waved three fingers in the direction of Sherwood, who at that point decided that he had had enough.

The two coaches squared up on the sidelines, with one of Benfica’s coaches even earning the ire of Jesus as he tried to intervene.

Jesus has a reputation for being an eccentric manager, with odd responses to reporters' questions.

Sherwood and Jesus did not shake hands after the match.

“I thought his team were very good and showed a lot of class,” Sherwood said, according to Goal.com. “It’s a shame he wasn’t the same.

“He doesn’t mind himself, does he? Waving goodbye like that lacks class. Why would anyone do that? Not for me, thank you.

“I have got no intention of speaking to him.

It was an unsavory sideshow to an evening in which Jesus had comfortably got the better of the Spurs boss. Tottenham went a goal up through Rodrigo’s strike in the 28th minute and doubled their advantage 13 minutes into the second half.

Although Christian Eriksen scored a superb free-kick for Tottenham, some further poor defending from the home side allowed Luisao to thump in a third goal with seven minutes remaining. Benfica will now be big favorites to progress to the quarterfinals when the two sides meet in Lisbon at the Estadio da Luz in a week’s time.