Antonio Conte previews Marseille: “You work for this, to listen to this music”
Wed 07 September 2022, 15:00|
Tottenham Hotspur
Antonio Conte won five titles as a player, the UEFA Cup and, in 1996, the UEFA Champions League. He’s won another five titles as a manager for Juve, Chelsea and Inter. He first played in the Champions League in 1995/96, winning it at the first attempt, and was later runner-up when Juve lost out to Milan on penalties at Old Trafford.
Over 25 years on, he’s as excited as ever to hear that famous theme music as we step out again in Europe’s top competition this evening, kicking-off our Group D campaign against Marseille at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium (8pm).
He feels it’s a stage the Club deserves after a superb run in to last season saw us win 10 of our last 14 games to clinch fourth place in the Premier League. Now he wants the players - and fans - to relish the experience.
“You work for this, for this game, you work to listen to this music, because when you listen to this music, it means you are playing for a massive trophy,” he said. “We want to enjoy it and we need to enjoy it, because we deserve to live this moment.
“It will be a tough game but in Champions League, that’s normal. I think we are ready. We’re really excited. I think we deserve to enjoy to play in the Champions League because this is the result of what we did in the last season, because, in my opinion, we did a really good job with the players and the Club. To get this achievement to play Champions League was important. Now, it’s right to enjoy but at the same time, to enjoy with ambition.”
Antonio also knows the importance of winning our first game of the group on home soil. “The game is important, and it’s important to face every game with ambition and try to get three points. Then, especially in this competition, to start well is vital, to get three points will be vital for us.
“They will have the same idea. We want to show that we deserve to get three points. I hope, I’m sure our fans will push us from the start until the end and our stadium will become a big fortress this season.”
