Antonio Conte slammed the “incredible” decision to disallow Harry Kane’s “goal” as Tottenham suffered more Chelsea misery.
Conte was fuming after seeing Kane’s first half effort ruled out by referee Paul Tierney for a push on Chelsea defender Thiago Silva before the home side went on to beat their London rivals for a fourth time this season.
Tottenham boss Conte was angry at the refereeing as VAR did not step in even though even Thomas Tuchel admitted he was “surprised” it was disallowed.
Conte, who admitted it was another brutal reality check for his players, said: “To disallow this goal in England, it was incredible. Maybe in Italy it's 50-50, but in England, incredible.
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“To be an important team, you need important players. At the moment we are far away. It takes time. Years.
"For the performance, I'm very proud of my players. But then if I think that in the space of 19 days we lost to Chelsea, you have to accept there is a big difference between us and them.
"We tried everything to get a good result here but sometimes that's not enough, especially when you play against this sort of team. This club is on another level compared to us.”
Chelsea defenders Antonio Rudiger and Cesar Azpilicueta both appeared to be hit by objects - including lighters - from the crowd.
Rudiger complained he suffered racist abuse from Tottenham fans in December 2019 but an investigation claimed it found no evidence.
Blues boss Tuchel admitted he had not seen the incident but said football must work together to make sure missiles do not become a bigger issue.
Tuchel said: “Everyone needs to show respect, follow the guidelines, no doubt about it, but right now I'm not concerned about it.
"The atmosphere is away grounds is brilliant. But if this is a new trend then we have to act together because the atmospheres here are unique in England."
Tuchel praised Hakim Ziyech for his wonder goal and admitted it was a huge result. "I was right behind! I had the feeling it was a bit too high but it dropped at the right second. It was a brilliant goal. His technique was brilliant.
"We were working extremely hard for it and it was a tough match. The effort was outstanding and it was a deserved win. It is so hard to create chances against them but we were relentless and kept on believing.”
