Tottenham boss Antonio Conte believes that he has nothing to prove to those at Chelsea but admitted that it will be a pleasure to manage at Stamford Bridge again. The North Londoners face Conte’s former side in the Carabao Cup semi-final with the first-leg taking place at Stamford Bridge.
When Antonio Conte first arrived in England, after a successful spell with the Italian national team and Juventus, a few expected the Italian to thrive at Stamford Bridge. But he turned things around after a poor start as Conte’s Blues went on to win the Premier League title in his very first season, beating off competition from Tottenham and Arsenal along the way. While he did win the FA Cup in his second season, the spell didn’t end well with the Italian sacked at the end of the season.
Since then, Conte has won the Serie A title with Inter Milan and made a return back to England with Tottenham, where he takes his Spurs side to Stamford Bridge for a Carabao Cup semi-final. The Blues, and reigning Champions League winners, are favourites but Conte admitted that he has nothing to prove to those at Stamford Bridge. He also added that it will be a pleasure to return but his focus is on the job at hand.
“I spent two seasons where I created a good relationship with players, staff, people who work at Chelsea. We did a really good job and I think in my position I mustn’t prove anything to anyone. I’m a manager that has experience and continues to have experience and do important jobs at other teams. It’ll be a pleasure for me to come back to Stamford Bridge,” Conte said, reported the Guardian.
There is a clear difference between the two London sides as Chelsea, albeit inconsistently, have won trophies and competed for titles before and after Antonio Conte left. Tottenham have struggled in that regard and with many expecting Conte to change that, he admitted that the team has a lot of space to improve and need to build again before they can win.
“At this moment, Chelsea is more ready than us to win. They won the Champions League last season. We have a lot of space for improvement, to be a team with aspirations to win. To use the verb ‘to win’ is more simple than winning because to win you have to build something important, be solid, have an important squad. Then you’re ready to win. Otherwise you have to hope,” he added.
