Antonio Conte has warned it would be “unthinkable” for Tottenham to win the Champions League.
Conte set about trying to play down expectation levels ahead of their first Group match against Marseille at White Hart Lane on Wednesday night.
Tottenham boss Conte insisted his main target is to close the gap on Europe’s top clubs but says it is nearly impossible to break the dominance of the elite. Conte warned that Tottenham are not able to match Europe’s biggest spenders and the clubs who feel most at home in the Champions League.
“For sure, the story of a lot of clubs in this competition is really really big,” said Conte. “And to think … to be the same level, in this moment, is unthinkable. But it has to be for us a big push to try and improve and reduce the gap and try to fight for something important.
“But the story is very important in football because as I said to you before, Real Madrid when the players play in the Champions League they are in their house, they breathe the atmosphere, they know the way to manage the situation and they probable reach at least the semi-final in every season.
“To win the Champions League, it means you are a team that lives in this competition, it’s your habitat, your natural habitat. Other teams have to build and go step by step but with ambition.
“I think we have to try to grow with ambition. With the ambition to go in every game and fight, to get a win.”
Conte is one of Europe’s elite coaches, he is a serial winner and yet even he cannot perform miracles and pointed to the spending power of other clubs as to why his former club Chelsea have enjoyed recent success despite a lack of history in the competition.
“Chelsea, in the last 10 years, they won twice the Champions League and one Europa League,” said Conte. “Money, history together but usually a top team is also a top team because they have good money to invest and then become a top team.
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“Chelsea was a clear example because if you look in the past, before the Abramovich era and it is the same for Man City. Before the arrival of the new owner. When an owner arrives that invests a lot of money, then you create history in the resulting period and then you probably lift a trophy if you match money, investment and also the work.
“Don't forget the work because you can put a lot of money but then you have to work in the right way. This has to be very clear.”
Conte also admitted that Tottenham are not helped by the fixture list, having just endured a punishing run of games and now they face another tough set of games with three in six days starting wit Marseille, then Manchester City on Saturday and Sporting Lisbon next Tuesday.
But in keeping with Conte’s rather combative mood, his take on it was rather different and urged his club to be more worldly-wise in future as he suggested perhaps the bigger clubs can have a bigger say when it comes to the fixture schedule.
Conte added: “Honestly, to see this schedule about Tottenham is incredible, it's crazy. I try to check the schedule of the other teams and I have seen that in this situation Tottenham they penalise a lot, they penalise a lot our club and our team.
“I think in this situation we are unlucky but I think in the future, and also I spoke with the club, we have to pay great attention to speak also to the Premier League because we have to pay attention when there are this type of schedule.
"One day more, one day less can change totally your life and you can drop points. This is no good for a team like Tottenham.
“When you want to start to think as a winner, you have to take care of the details and the schedule is a detail that is very important for every club, especially for a club that wants to fight for something important. I think we can do much better for the future.”
