SHEFFIELD, England - Tottenham assistant manager Cristian Stellini has refused to take credit for his perfect record in the absence of recuperating boss Antonio Conte.
Conte has missed four games due to gallbladder surgery and his subsequent rehabilitation, with Tottenham winning each time under Stellini’s stand-in leadership.
Tottenham have beaten Manchester City, West Ham and Chelsea in the Premier League during Conte’s health-related absence.
The north Londoners also defeated Marseille in their Champions League group stage meeting in November while Conte served a suspension.
With Conte still not ready to return to the bench after initially coming back too quickly for defeats at Leicester and AC Milan, it will be Stellini in charge again for Wednesday’s FA Cup fifth round tie at Sheffield United.
The Italian also won several games while standing in for Conte during their time together at Inter Milan, but he deflected praise for his impressive record.
“I try to be successful working in football as an assistant or whatever. I’m focused on my job as an assistant,” Stellini told reporters on Tuesday.
“I enjoy seeing the team play well, I enjoy seeing the team playing with energy, enthusiasm and everything they have. They push with 100 per cent on the pitch. This makes me enjoy.
“I want to work on this aspect and follow this momentum. At the moment we’re waiting for Antonio to come back but Antonio is still here because we work with him from here and we speak a lot.”
Tottenham, without a major trophy since 2008, will be looking to advance to the FA Cup quarter-finals for the first time since the 2017-18 season after three successive fifth round exits.
Last season, they lost against Championship side Middlesbrough and they face dangerous second tier opposition again at Bramall Lane on Wednesday.
Although Tottenham are embroiled in a battle to finish in the Premier League’s top four and also face a Champions League last 16 second leg showdown with AC Milan after losing the first game 1-0, Stellini insisted the FA Cup remains important to them.
“We have to progress. We have to try to win the game. It’s an important competition, we take seriously all the competitions,” he said.
“We want to follow our momentum and we want to bring the same energy we had in our stadium to an away game.” AFP
