Antonio tells star he’ll be subbed soon...the reply is magic
ANTONIO CONTE gave Heung-Min Son a huge hug after his two goals helped to destroy Leicester.
But the Tottenham head coach said: “We have to think about the team not just individuals if we want to achieve something important for this club.”
Conte, right, revealed he had told Son he was going to take him off, just minutes before the forward scored a superb 25-yard goal for 3-0.
“I gave him a big hug because three minutes before he scored a brilliant goal I told him I had wanted to make a change,” said Conte, right.
“I said to him, ‘Go on for another five or six minutes and I have to make a change and you decide to score this amazing goal!’
“Sonny is a fantastic player. But it’s important at the end of the season to celebrate a big achievement with the team. Otherwise it remains only a personal success only to score these types of goals. It was a good performance against a really good team. Despite the eight changes Leicester made you could see the quality they have.
“This is three points at an important moment, especially because we play Liverpool and Arsenal next.
It was vital to win.”
Foxes manager Brendan Rodgers blamed more “soft” goals for punishing his side but insisted they are in good shape for Thursday’s second leg of their Europa Conference League semi-final at Roma.
He made eight changes from the 1-1 draw in the first leg, only giving Jamie Vardy and Youri Tielemans late run-outs.
Rodgers said: “I’m happy with the way our squad is. We could have gone strong yesterday as well as Thursday, but our season has been riddled with injuries and our schedule has been so heavy. It is nice to be able to rotate.”
Leicester’s players were angry at a challenge from Cristian Romero on Caglar Soyuncu before Son scored Tottenham’s second goal.
However, Rodgers said: “I’m frustrated at the way the game went. We conceded a really, really soft second goal. I have no problem at all with the tackle. I have a problem with us not winning the tackle. Romero was strong and aggressive.”