Conte su Ventrone: “Difficult to play today, we are destroyed by pain”

by our correspondent Davide Chinellato

October 8
– FALMER (Gb)

Antonio Conte struggles to find words, to contain emotions. His Tottenham in Brighton is back to winning, but all he wants to talk about after the game is Gian Piero Ventrone. The man to whom the Spurs dedicated the victory, from the finger pointing towards the sky of the match winner Harry Kane to that shirt with the writing Gian Piero on the back that captain Hugo Lloris brought under the sector of the Tottenham fans at the end of the match . “It was really difficult for us to concentrate on the match – says Conte with a faint voice in the belly of the Amex Stadium -. I learned after Wednesday’s game in Frankfurt how problematic his situation was, but no one expected this. He was ill. , but under control. It’s really hard to accept what happened. “

Emotions

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Conte was moved during the minute of applause dedicated to Ventrone that preceded the start of the match. Like Kane, in tears in the post-match interview. “This situation struck me a lot from an emotional point of view, it affected all of us – continues Conte -. It is difficult to hide my feelings from the players, from the people who work with me. We were all devastated, because in just ten months Gian Piero touched everyone’s heart. We’re talking about a hard worker, a scientist. He called me last Thursday, 10 days ago, asking if he could stay home because he had a bit of a fever. But he was very worried about missing training. I told him not to worry, that it was his health and that it came first. And yet he kept worrying about missing training. I think that’s also why he entered the hearts of the players. On Thursday I gave them the news. They were devastated, I canceled training because we were too upset. We will go to Naples for the funeral, I want to be with his family, with his wife Cinzia and his children, Ivan and Martina. I want to tell them they must be for you like Gian Piero was. He had a very strong character, I’m sure he wouldn’t want to see us sad. But we are destroyed by the pain and it is difficult not to be “.

The reaction

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Conte also talks about his players, of that closeness he felt, of those emotions that all of them showed remembering the coach they worked with since last November. “I told them that I am proud, because before I have excellent players I have very good people. They have shown that they are in that circumstance. Usually a coach has to push his players before a game, he has to find a way to motivate them. This time they are not. I managed to say nothing to them, I let them face the situation. And they showed me that they are great men. “

The memory

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Conte also goes back to his years with Ventrone, the 10 at Juve when he was still playing but also those at Bari and Atalanta, among his first steps on the bench. “As a player it was very hard to work with him – he confesses, finding a smile -. He showed us a different way to work. I remember that one day he put a big bell in the gym and told us: ‘If someone wants to give up, they don’t want to finish what we are doing, he has to go there and ring the bell. ‘He is an example of who he was, one of the ways he pushed me to reach my true potential, to go beyond my limits. For this reason I think in just 10 months the people here at Tottenham loved him, because he discovered a great person and a great professional. There is no one better than him. And I will keep his teachings in my heart and in my head. ”