Chelsea boss Thomas Tuchel gives verdict on violent handshake with Tottenham Hotspur’s Antonio Conte
Thomas Tuchel, in his post-match conference (h/t Football.London), spoke about the conflict along with Spurs’ counterpart Antonio Conte. The pair were shown red cards after full-time. In a very frustrating 2-2 draw for Chelsea and a sigh of relief for Tottenham on the other hand, the match was quite controversial.
Questions were especially raised on referee Anthony Taylor’s decision-making, as both goals conceded by Chelsea had a seemingly foul-laid build-up. Chelsea took the lead in the 19th minute via a Kalidou Koulibaly volley from a Kai Havertz corner. The Senegalese made the most of the opportunity. He slotted a powerful volley beyond Lloris, who evidently could not do much about it.
In the build-up to Pierre-Emile Hojberg’s goal, Kai Havertz was seemingly plunged off the ball by Rodrigo Bentancur. Ref Anthony Taylor asked Havertz to get up, citing minimal contact. After a few more passes, Hojberg slotted the ball low into the corner.
Taylor’s decision of not giving a foul did not go down well with the Chelsea camp, with Tuchel ranting about the same to the third official. Meanwhile, Conte was celebrating down the touchline with his faction.
Full-time bust-up
Harry Kane’s goal from a late corner was also controversial as Cristian Romero seemed to pull Marc Cucurella’s hair. This was also looked on by the ref, leading to more controversy. After the final whistle, it was whelming to see both managers being full of passion for their respective clubs.
Nevertheless, Tuchel’s men were quick to take the lead again from a quick break, with Reece James comfortably slotting the ball beyond a helpless Hugo Lloris. The tensions were again high on the touchline with Reece James having a very enthusiastic celebration with a section of the fans following Tuchel running over almost half the sidelines.
A formal hand-shake was made a mockery of as Tuchel believed Conte didn’t maintain eye contact with him.
“IÂ thought when we shake hands you looked in each other eyes, he had a different opinion. It was not necessary but a lot of things were not necessary.”
The managers were shown red cards after the full-time whistle. Both Conte and Tuchel were expectedly diplomatic in their post-match conferences. It was a tough point shared between the clubs.
“We dominated for 90 minutes. We were sharp, we were hungry, it was a top performance. I’m sorry for all my players that we didn’t get the result we deserved.”
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Chelsea were obviously the better team in the game, and Tuchel’s words resonated the same. They would hope for a better result next time around against Leeds United and further in the season.