London (AFP)
The future of the Italian, Antonio Conte, coach of Tottenham Hotspur, seems more ambiguous than ever, as he leads his injured team against AC Milan on Tuesday at the San Siro stadium, in the first leg of the Champions League final.
Conte returns to England just two weeks after undergoing gallbladder removal surgery in his homeland, and his return is likely to be as uncomfortable as his previous visit.
Conte has not been happy since the beginning of the season and made statements implicitly criticizing the club’s board of directors, and it would not be surprising if he decided to withdraw from training the north London team at the end of his contract with him next June.
Conte has expressed his displeasure with Tottenham’s transfers, while making it clear repeatedly that he believes it is unrealistic to expect his side to compete with rivals in the Premier League.
Spurs are still chasing after their first major trophy since 2008 and the team’s meager displays under Conte have yet to convince frustrated fans that he is the man to break the fast.
Tottenham reached rock bottom with its humiliating loss against Leicester City 1-4 on Saturday, and this loss came after a remarkable victory in the previous week over Manchester City, the defending champions last season, 1-0, for its historic goal scorer, Harry Kane.
The many injuries that affected the team in recent times did not help, with the departure of its French goalkeeper Hugo Lloris for at least 6 weeks, and the Uruguayan midfielder Rodrigo Bentancur until the end of the season, in addition to the absence of Ryan Sessegnon and Mali Eve Bisuma as well.
Conte did not participate in the press conference that followed the Leicester City match, due to the surgery he underwent, and entrusted the task to his assistant Christian Stellini, who lamented the surrender of Tottenham against Leicester City.
“The team has to change something. Not just individually. It’s about desire,” said Stellini.
He added, “There is no explanation because if you know what is happening, you can change something. It also happened last season when we beat Manchester City, and then we lost against Burnley.”
“It’s a long-term procedure to maintain a stable level. So you have to be better in terms of mentality and approach to matches.”
Tottenham currently ranks fifth in the domestic league, and Newcastle, the fourth-placed finalist to the Champions League, is away from it by only two points, and therefore things are not very bad, at least in terms of points.
Failing to finish in the top four will raise questions about whether Spurs chairman Daniel Levy would want to keep Conte, even if the former Chelsea, Juventus and Inter Milan boss indicated he wanted to stay.
Against this turbulent backdrop, going far in the Champions League this season may be the only way to heal Spurs’ wounds.
