Antonio Conte has played down Tottenham’s chances of winning the FA Cup and says Sunday’s Carabao Cup Final between Chelsea and Liverpool shows how difficult it will be for his side to win silverware this season.
Spurs visit Championship side Middlesbrough in Tuesday’s fifth-round tie, having not won the FA Cup since 1991.
Conte reached consecutive finals during his two seasons at Chelsea, winning the competition in 2017, and says he would love to continue the run with Spurs.
But he warned of the difficulty of competing for silverware in such a packed field and said Liverpool’s breathless win over Chelsea on penalties, while a great advert for English football, underlined what Spurs were up against.
"To win trophies in England is very difficult," Conte said.
"At the moment it’s easier to win in Europe than England. When you start to play the quarter-final, semi-final, final, you have to fight against a top, top team that probably could play the final of the Champions League. It’s important to continue to go through in this trophy.
"This happened in the Carabao [Cup], don’t underestimate the semi-final Tottenham reached. Because the final was Chelsea v Liverpool, so to reach the semi-final in this moment was a good result for Tottenham.
"For sure this has to be a boost to push us to improve the level, to be competitive, to try to meet a trophy as soon as possible. Because if I speak about the future, you don’t understand the time that we need. For sure it’ll be important to improve the level and fight to win a trophy. But I repeat, to win a trophy now is very difficult.
"It’s a great competition and previously I was lucky to reach the final two years in a row," Conte added.
"I’d like to continue this tradition for Tottenham, especially for my players, especially the fans and the club. Not only for me. But you know this trophy is not simple or easy, and tomorrow we have to face Middlesbrough, a tough game.
"Middlesbrough eliminated Manchester United from this competition. I want to see continuity in the performance and result of my players. We need continuity to show that in defeat we are learning something more. I hope tomorrow to see a good game, good football, at the same time with a great desire to go to the next round.
"Also I want to celebrate the game between Chelsea and Liverpool yesterday, it was a great, exciting game to watch. This also underlines how difficult it is to win trophies in this country. It was amazing for me and all the people in other countries to watch this game.
"Great congratulations for me to Chelsea and Liverpool, the players, the coach, for the fans, for the total environment it was a fantastic sport for football. I think that England has to be proud about this."
Spurs will again be without injured quartet Oliver Skipp, Rodrigo Bentancur, Lucas Moura and Japhet Tanganga at the Riverside Stadium.
Meanwhile, Conte called for unity from football’s governing bodies FIFA and UEFA in response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
"We’re in 2022 and to talk about the possibility of war is incredible," Conte said. "It’s incredible and at the same time it’s stupid.
"War is not an answer for anything. Never, never. This is very clear. Football, UEFA and FIFA has to be compact and strong. Also a country who at this moment don’t want to show unity."
