Antonio Conte was left enraged by the decision to deny Tottenham a last-gasp winner against Sporting
(Picture: REUTERS)Antonio Conte could not contain his fury after Tottenham were controversially denied a last-gasp win over Sporting CP on Wednesday night.
Despite another inconsistent performance, Spurs looked to have snatched the win that would seal their progress from Group D into the last 16 of the Champions League thanks to Harry Kane’s late, late effort at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
However, manager Conte, players and home fans all saw their wild celebrations turn into angry protests after the goal was eventually disallowed for offside after a lengthy VAR check, with a chaotic match finishing 1-1 to leave Tottenham needing to get at least a draw in Marseille on matchday six in order to go through to the knockout phase.
Conte was shown a red card for his remonstrations, with Dutch referee Danny Makkelie surrounded at the full-time whistle by bemused and irate Tottenham stars who just could not understand why the goal had been chalked off.
Conte’s anger then continued into his post-match interviews with BT Sport and a terse, fiery press conference that lasted under four minutes and saw him answer just one question before departing.
Here’s every word from the irate Italian after tonight’s controversy...
“At the end because all the people come into the pitch and then the referee decided to send me off,” he said. “Only for this. I think there are moments that maybe you can be a bit intelligent to understand you have just disallowed a regular goal because the goal was regular. The ball is in front of Kane. And then the VAR.
“I repeat you know I don't comment on referee decision but the VAR, this season, I don't know why between Premier League and Champions League, we are not so lucky. I don't know why until now we are also the only team who repeated the penalty and every penalty I go to see, if the keeper move on line, I see a lot of the time. I want to see repetition of a penalty in Premier League. I think we are not so lucky with VAR but I think they create big damage.
“I would like to see if this type of decision you can take with a top team, in an important game, yeah I would like to see if VAR is so brave to take this decision. I repeat this unfair decision because the ball is in front of Kane. Sorry, but I am really upset because sometimes you can accept this situation and sometimes I think it is not good because I don't see honesty in this type of situation and when I see this I become really, really upset.
“For the game we played first half with low intensity and Sporting deserve to stay 1-0 up and at the end of the game after our second half I think we deserved to get three points. Now for this decision we have to wait to the last game against Marseille and I repeat this decision, yeah creates big damage.
“I hope the club understands this and then in the right situation they also speak with the people they have to speak because otherwise it is only the manager to speak. I think the club has to be strong because I repeat this situation creates big, big damage. Now we don't know what happen next week. If we go out, then I want to see.”
