Antonio Conte has revealed that he has spoken with Fabio Paratici and sent a message to Daniel Levy following the controversial VAR call in Tottenham's Champions League tie against Sporting CP. Needing a win to qualify, Harry Kane's strike in the dying seconds of stoppage time was ruled out by VAR for offside.
A decision that did not go down well at all at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium as Spurs players and management questioned the call and made their feelings crystal clear, Conte said in his post-match press conference that he hoped the club speak with the relevant people in the right situation and also be strong as the decision creates "big, big damage". Asked if he has spoken to anyone at the club since, the Italian opened up on the latest and also outlined the need to protect the club.
“I spoke with the sporting director and also I sent a message with our owner, Daniel Levy," he admitted. "Also after what happened against Newcastle, we spoke about this, because there is an image very, very clear that it was a foul.
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"Sometimes you can accept. And to tell, ‘OK, they made a mistake, we have to move on’. But at the same time I think that sometimes you had to try to go to speak and to protect your club. I have to protect my club and the club has to protect itself. Because I understood that to be silent is not good.
"From the start of the season, I always said I don’t want to comment on the referee decision, I don’t want to comment on the referee decision, I don’t want to comment on the referee decision. It happened, a disaster from the start until now between Premier League and the Champions League if I have to mix a referee decision and VAR.
“What I ask is only to pay a bit of attention and try to understand the same evaluation for every team."
As a result of the decision that denied Tottenham a place in the Champions League Round of 16 with a game to spare, the Lilywhites now head to Marseille needing a point to progress to the next round. The French side themselves also need a win to advance, with Eintracht Frankfurt and Sporting CP very much in the mix as Group D goes right down to the wire.
Although Saturday's game away at Bournemouth comes first, Conte has outlined the importance of Tuesday's showdown at the Orange Velodrome and labelled it as a "final". With that in mind, the boss will not be taking any risks with some of his team at the Vitality Stadium.
"My reflection and what I think is that in the Premier League we have a lot of games to play in front of us. In Champions League we want to have more games to play but there is a final on Tuesday and this is the difference between the game tomorrow in the Premier League and a game in Champions League," he explained.
"In the Premier League you can have time to recover. In Champions League we are going to play a final. For this reason my decision is to try make the best decision to understand very well who are the players who are really tired because I don’t want to take risk as for us it is a final for us on Tuesday. I try to make my best selection tomorrow as we want to have a good result against Bournemouth."
On the importance of progressing for the future of the team, he added: "It has to be important as we want to go and we want to bring Tottenham again in the right place in Europe. This is the most important thing not because in January we are thinking about the market.
"Honestly, in my mind my hope is to only recover the players who are injured at the moment as it is vital to have all the players available. We know that we have just started the process to improve the squad and to go step by step and to face different competitions like Premier League and Champions League.
"It is important only for this because we want to give us satisfaction and especially after the big effort we did last season we want to continue in the best competition in Europe to bring Tottenham again in right place in Europe and also for our fans and for ourselves."
Set to tweak his XI with one eye clearly on the Marseille fixture, Conte was asked if Kane could be rested against Bournemouth. Starting in every game this campaign and only subbed off twice, Tottenham's lack of attacking numbers through injury means the club's No.10 will continue to lead the line.
"There was a possibility if you have players to play in his place. But if Richarlison is out, Kulusevski is out, I have to ask the players to play otherwise we are in trouble," he said. "For sure every time I ask the availability of the players because I have great respect of my players. First of all I don’t want to take risk with injuries.
"Sometimes I ask my players, ‘Are you available for tomorrow if I want to pick you in the team?’ If they give me their availability then I will try to pick the best selection. Sometimes I can decide and sometimes I’m not in the possibility to make a decision.
"In this case, we have only two strikers, Harry and Sonny. Don’t forget when I put Sonny on the bench, you said to me a lot of things! In another way, you have always to try the right balance. But Harry is OK, he stays well, he wants to play, he gives his availability and is always an important player for us."
Tottenham's form has been very up and down this month following three wins, two draws and three defeats from eight games. A taxing season for the players with games coming every couple of days, Conte has also outlined the welfare of managers as the amount of stress they are under before every game does create "fatigue".
“For sure, this type of season is very difficult and I think everybody has to understand this. To play every three days, every two days and a half, it’s not simple to recover and it’s difficult to recover for me with the energy," revealed the 53-year-old.
“I imagine it’s difficult for my players to recover and in this type of situation, the fans of every team have to stay closer to try and push, to try to help the team, every team but not only Tottenham because this type of situation they need to understand it’s a big, big effort for everybody. For sure, we talk a lot about the welfare of the players, but also the welfare of the managers because in this way we put a serious risk to the welfare of the players and the manager.
"I repeat that we don’t play but the stress that we are under before every game, every two days for game after game. Analysis, video, to speak to the players. It’s fatigue. It’s OK and it’s the same for everybody. I’m not complaining and I’m only answering your question."
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