Seething Conte
It was perhaps no surprise to see Antonio Conte make a quick exit from his post-match press conference, given what unfolded in the final seconds of stoppage time at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. Level at 1-1 and needing a goal to progress through to the knockout phase, Harry Kane fired Emerson Royal's header into the net from close range, only for VAR to intervene.
It was pandemonium inside the ground when the ball hit the back of the net as Spurs looked like they had got themselves out of jail following such a slow start. Substitute Djed Spence was first to grab the goalscorer as the team sprinted over towards the Spurs dugout, with players, staff and even injured duo Dejan Kulusevski and Richarlison joining in the celebrations as Conte bounced all over the place.
However, the joy quickly turned to despair as Tottenham's No.10 was deemed to be offside by the smallest of margins. It did not matter that the striker was behind Emerson when the Brazilian nodded the ball back, which Eric Dier pointed out to the referee at full-time, nor that it was deflected into his path by a Sporting CP defender.
READ MORE: Every word furious Antonio Conte said on VAR, his red card and what Tottenham must understand
Conte and Spurs were aghast at the decision and made their feelings perfectly clear in no uncertain terms, with the head coach receiving his marching orders seconds later. It means that Champions League Group D will now go right down to the wire for all four teams.
Tottenham's destiny is in their own hands, and a point in Marseille will suffice. A defeat will mean they are not able to progress through to the knockout phase of the competition, though.
Seething at the call, which has denied them a place in the final 16 with a game to spare, Conte stated in his post-match press conference that the VAR decision "creates big damage". Usually speaking for between five to ten minutes after a game, he was in front of the media for three minutes and 15 seconds and only answered one question.
"At the end, because all the people came into the pitch and then the referee decided to send me off. Only for this," he explained when asked about his red card and the VAR decision. "I think there are moments that maybe you can be a bit intelligent to understand you have just disallowed a regular goal because the goal was regular. The ball is in front of Kane. And then the VAR.
"I repeat, you know I don't comment on referee decisions, but the VAR, this season, I don't know why between Premier League and Champions League, we are not so lucky. I don't know why until now, we are also the only team who repeated the penalty. Every penalty I go to see, if the keeper moves on his line, I see it a lot of the time. I want to see the repetition of a penalty in the Premier League. I think we are not so lucky with VAR, but I think they create big damage.
"I would like to see if this type of decision you can take with a top team in an important game, yeah I would like to see if VAR is so brave to take this decision. I repeat this unfair decision because the ball is in front of Kane. Sorry, but I am really upset because sometimes you can accept this situation, and sometimes I think it is not good because I don't see honesty in this type of situation, and when I see this, I become really, really upset.
"For the game, we played the first half with low intensity, and Sporting deserved to stay 1-0 up, and at the end of the game after our second half, I think we deserved to get three points. Now for this decision, we have to wait until the last game against Marseille, and I repeat this decision, yeah creates big damage.
"I hope the club understands this and then, in the right situation, they also speak with the people they have to speak to because otherwise, it is only the manager to speak. I think the club has to be strong because I repeat, this situation creates big, big damage. Now we don't know what will happen next week. If we go out, then I want to see."
Conte's post-match press conference at the Orange Velodrome could be even more explosive if Tottenham do indeed crash out of Europe's premier competition next week. However, in all honesty, they should already be through, having wasted such a good opportunity to beat their Portuguese opponents.
Why VAR cannot be blamed
On another night, Dier could quite easily have left with the match ball. Very unlucky just after the restart, with Antonio Adan saving extremely well from his volley on the turn after the ball had fallen kindly to him in the box, the centre-back then missed a hat-trick of headers in the closing stages.
Firstly seeing a glancing header just go over the crossbar and brush the top of the net, the former Sporting CP man then couldn't get quite enough on Son Heung-min's inch-perfect free-kick as his attempt drifted narrowly wide of the target. Dier knew he should have scored and angrily beat the ground in frustration three times while he was on his knees in the goalmouth.
An ever better chance was to arrive four minutes later as he somehow headed wide unmarked from six yards after Clement Lenglet had picked him out after managing to keep the ball in play. He again knew he should have netted, with Kane having his head in his hands and Conte looking on in disbelief.
Dier wasn't the only player guilty of missing good openings as Matt Doherty, Son and the goalscorer Rodrigo Bentancur also did likewise. The centre-back's chances just needed to fall to Kane or Son, and then we probably would be talking about Tottenham sealing a place in the next round of the competition.
VAR, of course, will be the main talking point following the controversial decision, but Tottenham had more than enough opportunities, and glorious ones at that, to kill off the game during the second half. Hopefully, their wastefulness will not prove too costly come the full-time whistle in Marseille.
Another slow start
Hitting three first-half goals in their previous Champions League home game, it was a totally different story against Sporting CP in the opening 45 minutes. Despite starting the game off ok with Lucas Moura on his return to the team, finding himself in some good positions only for his touch to let him down, it was former Spurs man Marcus Edwards who silenced the home crowd with a wonderful strike from distance.
Rather than spur the team on in search of an equaliser, heads dropped, as was the case against Manchester United and Newcastle United in their previous two games, and it was all too comfortable for the visitors. Tottenham just didn't test them, and there was a notable lack of energy and ideas on show.
It is not something new, though, as Tottenham made incredibly slow starts in their two fixtures last week and ultimately paid the price. It was then no surprise to see them greeted by boos as they made their way off the pitch at half-time.
Something that is, unfortunately, becoming a theme of Tottenham matches this season. It really needs to come to an end, as they are leaving themselves with too much to do as a result. They almost got away with it, only for Kane's goal to be ruled out. There cannot be a repeat in the south of France next week or in the upcoming Premier League games.
Kulusevski and Richarlison's absence has been felt, but Tottenham are so much better than what they are currently serving up at the start of games.
Bryan Gil impact
Making an impact in his last Champions League appearance against Eintracht Frankfurt, Conte turned to Bryan Gil with 20 minutes to go. Having to make do with 17 minutes in all competitions this season prior to his introduction against Sporting CP, it was a huge opportunity for the Spaniard to seize with both hands.
He did just that as he demonstrated to everyone why he was brought to the club by Fabio Paratici in the summer of 2021. Lacking a bit of spark and imagination in the final third in the first half before they finally started to up the ante after the break, Bryan made an instant impression at such a crucial time.
Whipping in a dangerous cross with one of his first touches of the ball that Spurs just couldn't get on the end of, he caused the visitors all sorts of problems with his skill, direct running and creativity, which at one point resulted in Manuel Ugarte cynically fouling him on the edge of the box. He displayed everything that Tottenham have been missing in the final third in recent weeks, thus only raising more questions in the process about why Conte hasn't turned to him more.
Perhaps better suited to the European games rather than the Premier League due to his size and stature, the head coach doesn't have any more excuses when it comes to unleashing the 21-year-old. He must simply now do it in the Premier League, with Saturday at Bournemouth perhaps the ideal opportunity.
Sometimes all a player needs is a chance to show what they can do, and that was very much the case for Bryan on Wednesday evening.
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