Thomas Tuchel Explains His Touchline Altercation With Conte

Thomas Tuchel Explains His Touchline Altercation With Conte

Thomas Tuchel and Antonio Conte were embroiled in a heated touchline altercation before being sent off after a pulsating London derby.

The derby between Chelsea and Tottenham left the two coaches grabbing headlines as they were at each other’s necks.

Chelsea enjoyed much possession, dominating play while the visitors were kept at bay. From controlling the tempo of the game, Chelsea broke the deadlock through Kalidou Koulibaly’s thumping volley in the first half.

After the breather, Thomas Tuchel’s side continued bullying the visitors who later restored parity through Pierre-Emile Højbjerg’s 20 yards strike.

Following Hojbjerg’s equalizer, Antonio Conte pulled his ‘trademark’ celebration towards the Chelsea bench.

Conte ended up clashing with Tuchel who was fuming at the fourth official demanding the goal to be reversed as Kai Harvetz appeared to have been hackled during the goal build-up.

The two ‘rivals’ were booked for their behavior.

As the situation seemed under control, Chelsea restored its lead through Reece James’ ice-cold finish. Celebrating the goal, Tuchel was seen running in front of Tottenham’s bench.

As the game was in the dying minutes, Tottenham pulled another goal back through Harry Kane who slotted Ivan Perisic’s corner.

Right after the game, both managers were booked again as they shook hands aggressively and exchanged words. During the heated feud, Conte and Tuchel had to be separated by staff members before being sent off by referee Anthony Taylor.

Speaking after the match, Tuchel said:

“I 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.

“There are no hard feelings. I feel like it was a fair tackle from him (Conte) and a fair tackle from me. We did not insult each other, we did not hit each other, we are fighting for our teams.”