--- public/typo3/sysext/linkvalidator/Classes/Linktype/ExternalLinktype.php	2019-11-13 14:52:00.000000000 +0100
+++ public/typo3/sysext/linkvalidator/Classes/Linktype/ExternalLinktype.php	2019-11-13 14:53:00.000000000 +0100
@@ -88,6 +88,7 @@
             'headers'         => $this->headers
         ];
         $url = $this->preprocessUrl($origUrl);
+        $url = trim(html_entity_decode($url));
         if (!empty($url)) {
             $isValidUrl = $this->requestUrl($url, 'HEAD', $options);
             if (!$isValidUrl) {