Thomas Tuchel Reveals The Reason He Pulled Tottenham Manager Antonio Conte During Their Handshake At The Full-Time Whistle
Aug 15, 2022 at 4:39 PM
In an epic battle at the Stamford Bridge between Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur, firecrackers went bursting as the game witnessed managers of both the sides clashing against each other. Thomas Tuchel and Antonio Conte were in a raging mood as the game ended in a 2-2 draw, with Chelsea twice conceding the lead. The Blues’ boss clashed twice with his Spurs counterpart on the touchline with things almost getting out of hand.
The two had to be separated by their respective staffs as Thomas Tuchel was unhappy with Tottenham awarded their two goals despite committing potential fouls in the build up. However, the two managers’ epic handshake at the full time whistle, during which Tuchel refused to let go Conte stole all the headlines. He has now opened up about the incident in his post match presser.
Thomas Tuchel blames Antonio Conte for the ‘handshake’ bust up
Chelsea led twice against Spurs, with all of their headline summer signings involved in the two strikes. A Marc Cucurella corner reaped the first goal as it found Kalidou Koulibaly unmarked in the Tottenham box who slotted it past Hugo Lloris to put Chelsea in front. Spurs reacted in the 68th minute with Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg pulling his side on level.
However, Tuchel was furious with the referee failing to blow the whistle against Spurs’ Rodrigo Bentancur who allegedly fouled Kai Havertz in the build up to Hojbjerg’s goal. Conte watching it from his side of the dugout immediately went on to celebrate the goal in front of Tuchel leading to a clash between the both.
Reece James pulled Chelsea back in front just ten minutes later after finishing a lay off provided by newcomer Raheem Sterling. This time, Thomas Tuchel had his chance as he ran past a dejected Conte to celebrate with his team James’ goal at the corner flag. But the Spurs manager had the last laugh as his team once again put things at level in the injury time through a Harry Kane header from the corner.
Once again, Tuchel was infuriated with referee Anthony Taylor who had clear sight at a hair-pull on Cucurella by Tottenham center-back Christian Romero during the corner, but allowed the goal. It was the epic handshake at the full time whistle between Thomas Tuchel and Antonio Conte as the Chelsea boss refused to let the Spurs boss go and pulled him to exchange heated words.
Tuchel has now opened up about the incident explaining why he didn’t let go Conte’s hand. Speaking to the Sky Sports, Tuchel said: “I thought when we shake hands you looked in each other eyes, he [Conte] had a different opinion. It was not necessary but a lot of things were not necessary.”
He further added there are ‘no hard feelings’ between both of them after the bust up. “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,” concluded Tuchel.