Tottenham head coach Antonio Conte has opened up on the sudden passing of health coach and shut pal Gian Piero Ventrone.
Spurs introduced on Friday morning that Ventrone, nicknamed ‘The Marine’, had handed away on the age of 61 following a brief sickness.
Ventrone was a beloved member of the membership’s backroom employees and was shut with a number of first-team gamers – Son Heung-min notably ran to him in celebration after scoring a hat-trick towards Leicester final month.
Speaking after Spurs’ hard-fought 1-0 win at Brighton on Saturday, Conte revealed Ventrone was involved extra about any absence harming the workforce reasonably than his personal well being.
“This is how he was. He was more worried about missing training than anything,” Conte mentioned.
“It was really difficult for everybody when I communicated the bad news to the players. We didn’t have a training session on Thursday because everybody was so emotional.”
A primary-half header from Harry Kane noticed Spurs finish Brighton’s seven-match unbeaten run on the Amex Stadium – a streak which began off the again of Tottenham’s triumph on the south coast again in March.
Conte added that he was full of admiration for his gamers for stepping up in such troublesome situations.
“I’m really proud about my players,” he mentioned. “I have said many times the most important thing in a player is that he is a good person. I think in this circumstance they showed themselves to be really a good person. I am proud to be the coach of this team. They are top men.
“I’ve to be sincere, it was actually troublesome for us to be centered on the sport. The scenario harm me rather a lot, the gamers have been devastated. In solely ten months I believe Gian Piero actually received to their coronary heart. Life typically is just not good.
“Gian Piero was a really strong person, with a strong character. He doesn’t want to see us not happy. But it is difficult to make him happy because we are devastated by the pain.”
Conte and his Spurs gamers will attend Ventrone’s funeral in Naples on Sunday. The membership are planning additional tributes to him forward of their Champions League conflict at dwelling to Eintracht Frankfurt on Wednesday.
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