Failure’s no option for serial winner Conte

ONE year into his reign at Tottenham, Antonio Conte will face a moment of truth in the StadeVelodrome tonight.

And the Italian’s torturous evening could be even more painful as he is forced to watch from the stands because of a one-game touchline ban.

Conte knows another early exit from the Champions League will be viewed as failure from a manager regarded as a serial winner.

Conte took over at Spurs 12 months ago this week and has undoubtedly rejuvenated the club on several levels.

He got them back into the top four and has got the players fitter and stronger from Nuno Espirito Santo’s disastrously short reign.

But the question marks remain over Conte when it comes to his style of play. It is functional rather than spectacular, with the Spurs fans craving the latter.

They may be willing to compromise on that if their head coach delivers the club’s first trophy in 15 years.

However, for all of Conte’s remarkable success at domestic level with Juventus, Chelsea and Inter Milan, his Champions League record is worryingly poor ahead of Tottenham’s darenot-lose final group match in Marseille.

Incredibly, he has never got past the quarter-finals in this competition and has gone out at the group stage in three of his five previous campaigns.

That is freakishly bad for a man who prides himself on preparation, tactics and success.

The 53-year-old cannot afford to fail in his sixth season in the Champions League – and it would again raise serious doubts over his long-term future.

While Conte’s £13million-ayear contract expires at the end of the season, there is an automatic extension activated if his side qualify for the Champions League.

But there is also a will on Tottenham’s part to get a new deal in place, because chairman Daniel Levy can see the progress being made.

After all, Conte took over with the club in ninth last season and still guided them back into the Champions League at the expense of north London rivals Arsenal.

Levy backed him to the hilt last summer, splashing out £50m on Richarlison, £25m on Yves Bissouma and bolstered the squad with signings such as Djed Spence and Fraser Forster, having recruited Rodrigo Bentancur and Dejan Kulusevski in January.

That is a pretty unprecedented level of spending by Levy’s standards – and yet it has still not been enough to please Conte, which is another part of the problem.

His constant demand for more players and regular complaints about how long it will take to catch up with big-spending rivals often leave you wondering how long he can last at Tottenham.

If they fail to reach the Champions League knockout stages, there will be a knock-on effect when it comes to transfer spending. They stand to lose millions if they miss out.

Tottenham’s task tonight is quite straightforward. A win or a draw takes them through, while a defeat means they are eliminated.

Maybe that is why Conte was so frustrated and angry after Harry Kane’s stoppage-time effort against Sporting Lisbon last Wednesday was ruled out after a VAR row. Conte could face another UEFA charge.

Conte’s red card in the ensuing melee earned him an automatic one-match touchline ban and, while he is allowed in the stadium, he is precluded from having contact with the players.

Conte is clearly so annoyed by the ban that he put his assistant

Cristian Stellini on pre-match media duties. Some managers do their preview press conferences even when banned, but others decide against it.

But ultimately, Conte knows what is at stake for Tottenham and his tenure. And for a serial winner, failure is not an option.