Antonio Conte has opened the door to leaving Tottenham and returning to Italian football by reiterating that the nation “is in my heart”.
Spurs went down 1-0 in the first leg of their Champions League Round of 16 tie against Milan, with former Manchester City youngster Brahim Diaz heading the only goal from close range just seven minutes in.
The tie remains finely poised with Spurs now looking ahead to the return leg in North London where a win by two goals or more would book their place in the last eight of the competition. However, it was an anaemic performance in northern Italy with Conte’s side firmly second best.
It was a result which came just four days after his team were humbled 4-1 in a damaging Premier League loss at Leicester. Rodrigo Bentancur, who suffered an anterior cruciate ligament injury in that loss, is now set to sit out the rest of the campaign.
Yves Bissouma's ankle injury could keep him out until the end of the season while they were also without the suspended Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg on Tuesday. Young midfielders Oliver Skipp, 22, and Pape Sarr, 20, impressed after coming into the side in Milan, but the absentees are a huge loss for Spurs.
After the defeat in Milan, Conte once again hinted that he was thinking about his future and a possible return to Italy. He has managed a host of clubs in the nation, including Juventus and Inter, alongside a stint as the Italian national team boss.
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“I don't want to talk about the future but as a former Italian national manager people know how much Italy means to me,” Conte explained after the game. “It's in my heart. I will never exclude the possible idea that I will be back here one day.”
Conte struck a more positive note for Spurs when referring to turning the tie on its head: "For qualification you have to play two games. It is the first game away and the atmosphere was fantastic.
“I know the San Siro and I know the difficulty to play with this atmosphere. In the second game we have to play at our stadium and our fans will create the atmosphere to help us overcome the Milan obstacle.
“I think we played against a good team and don't forget Milan last season won the league in Italy. I think that to concede the first goal we can do much better.
“Instead we concede a goal after maybe only 5 minutes. Then we try to lead the game and create a situation to score but I think Milan defended very well. We created the chances to score but in the end we are talking about a defeat, a loss.”
