Antonio Conte has been relieved of his duties as manager of Tottenham Hotspur following the Italian’s fiery post-match outburst after Spurs’ recent 3-3 draw with Southampton.
Conte departs Spurs with the north London club occupying the final Champions League place in fourth. Here is a breakdown of the Italian’s downfall before his departure on Sunday night.
Southampton post-match meltdown
It was Conte as you had never seen him before, an emotional character on the sideline but rather refrained in his post-match press conferences. However after his side let a 3-1 lead slip to relegation-threatened Southampton, the Italian decided to let loose at his players, branding them ‘selfish’. This would be the former-Chelsea man’s final press conference for the club, with his exit now confirmed.
Return from surgery too soon
It was only seven weeks ago on February 1st that the Italian was ruled out of action for the foreseeable future after undergoing gallbladder surgery. A mere nine days had past before Conte was back to work, or be it in a limited capacity. Then following their 4-1 thrashing away at Leicester and 1-0 defeat at the San Siro to AC Milan, the 53-year-old remained in Italy to fully recover, having looked a shadow of his previous self. He fully returned to the club on March 6th.
Richarlison complaints
The Brazilian forward laid all his cards out with an interview with TNT Sports following Spurs’ exit from the Champions League after he was used sparingly in both legs of their aggregate defeat to AC Milan. After believing Richarlison claiming Spurs had had a ‘s**t season’ was lost in translation, Conte then branded his forward ‘selfish’ for giving the interview before starting him the following weekend against Nottingham Forest.
Tuchel bust-up
You would probably forget that at the start of this season, Thomas Tuchel was manager of Chelsea whilst Conte was in-charge at Spurs, now neither are in work. But after the final whistle of a cagey 2-2 draw at Stamford Bridge it got a little bit too hot between the German and Italian, with both coaches needing to be restrained before a mass brawl ensued.
