Thu 09 March 2023, 01:00
Tottenham HotspurAntonio Conte said the players ‘gave everything’ but it wasn't to be as we exited the UEFA Champions League at the hands of Milan on Wednesday evening.
The Italian champions edged the Round of 16 tie 1-0 on aggregate after it ended goalless in the second leg at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. In the end, an even battle over the two legs was decided by Brahim Diaz’s early strike in the San Siro.
Again, clear-cut chances were at a premium, with Milan goalkeeper Mike Maignan forced into serious action twice in the second half. First up, he tipped over Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg’s drive from the angle before the save of the night late on, a sharp parry away to his right to keep out Harry Kane’s header from Heung-Min Son’s free-kick. By then, we were down to 10 men after Cristian Romero picked up a second yellow card.
Speaking to SPURSPLAY, Antonio told us: “It was a tough night because we wanted to go to the next round. About the commitment, my players gave everything from the start until the end, also when we had 10 players. We tried not to lose the balance, because to concede another goal at home was not positive, at the same time we tried to find the situation to score and had the opportunity from the set piece with Harry.
“It’s a pity. To go out in the Champions League against a team that last season won the league in Italy… we are talking about an important team with important players. The difference in these two games, two games in the balance, was that they created more danger offensively than us. When I speak about offensively, I speak about the attack of a good team, they tried to move the ball quicker, to create the space to receive the ball to go one against one, they did better than us in these two games.”
