Sunday Mirror (Northern Ireland)
FOURZA ITALIA
Conte driven by dream of becoming a PL champion like Ancelotti, Mancini & Ranieri Antonio: I was rooting for Claudio last season... to win in England is huge back home
ANTONIO CONTE’S national pride is spurring him on to complete another Italian job in the Premier League.
Chelsea are just two wins from the title and they can already smell glory as they prepare to host Middlesbrough tomorrow night.
And if they get over the line, Conte would become the fourth Italian manager to win the Premier League title in eight years.
Carlo Ancelotti opened the floodgates at Stamford Bridge in 2010, followed by Roberto Mancini at Manchester City in 2012.
Claudio Ranieri then made it No.3 in memorable fashion with Leicester City last term.
Conte took great pleasure in Ranieri’s feat and, as he prepares to join him in that elite winners’ club, he says those in his homeland are right to feel pride when weighing up the achievements of Italian managers around Europe.
Conte, 47, said: “In England, I look at the past and saw that three Italian managers won the title.
“It’s logical to be proud of this. “Last season, I was supporting Claudio a lot to win the title. In Italy, we celebrated this win in a great way. Claudio deserved this for his long career.
“It’s right to have joy if an Italian manager wins the title in England. But also, for example, Ancelotti, who is now at Bayern Munich in Germany, and Massimo Carrera, who is in Russia with Spartak Moscow.
“Last season, he worked with me as assistant coach and now he’s winning the title in Russia. I think it’s great. Everyone must find joy in this kind of result.” Historically, success in the Premier League was far from a given for Italian bosses.
Nowhere was this more evident than at Chelsea, where Gianluca Vialli and Ranieri both had middling spells before Ancelotti tore up the script.
Conte has taken to English football like a duck to water and has clearly relished the task of restoring Chelsea’s lost lustre.
But while his CV is peppered with successes – three Serie A titles with Juventus – he says nothing prepared him for the intensity of life in the Premier League.
“In Italy, there is a good school,” he added.
“But, honestly, when you arrive and face this league, you must change your mind and adapt very quickly. This league is very difficult. It’s a strong league, totally different to the Italian league, the Spanish league and others.
“In England, there are top managers from different countries and really good English managers.
“Every single game is tough and you must fight a lot. You must put all of yourself into every game.”
Conte certainly does that and even now he is looking to squeeze more from his charges, calling on them to build on an overdue clean sheet against Everton.
“It was very important to keep a clean sheet after 11 games without one,” he added.
“I hope it gives us more confidence to continue in this way against Middlesbrough.
“For the goals, I must be pleased: we are the team who has scored most in this league. It’s great.
“Defensively, we have to improve because we’re only the third best.”