Antonio Conte fears he may be sacked before the end of the season after Tottenham crashed out of the Champions League.
‘I’m under contract at Tottenham, then we will decide at the end of the season with the club,’ Spurs boss Conte, told Italy’s Prime after a goalless draw against Milan ended their hopes of a trophy this season.
‘My contract expires in June, we will seeโ they might sack me even before the end of the season, who knows, maybe they are disappointed.’
Conte bemoaned Tottenham’s lack of cutting edge as they slipped feebly out of the Champions League.
Spurs could muster only two efforts on target as they were held at home by Milan and beaten 1-0 on aggregate by the Italian champions.
‘That is the third game in a row that we were not able to score,’ said Conte, whose team finished the game with 10 men with Cristian Romero was sent off, collecting his second yellow card in the 78th minute.
‘The game was in the balance. I think we can do much better offensively. I speak about the whole team not only those who play in the front half. We can do much better.
‘I can’t say anything negative about the commitment of the players. They gave everything from the start to the end. We finished the game with 10 men. But if I have to see a positive situation, it is that we had a step forward.
‘We played in the Europa Conference League last year and weren’t able to get out of the group stages. Now we took a step forward but it is not enough and if we want to be competitive, we have to fight.’
Conte vowed to push on for the best possible finish in the Premier League. ‘We have to continue to work,’ he told BT Sport. ‘We have another game that we have to recover for. We have to try to reach the best possible position at the end of the season.’
Tottenham legend Glenn Hoddle criticised Conte’s team. ‘The squad isn’t good enough,’ said Hoddle on BT Sports. ‘Fourth pace is better than they should be doing. There was no energy. There was no creativity. Very disappointing. The midfield is a problem, for me. Too often, they go backwards for nothing.’
Peter Crouch, who scored the winning goal for Spurs when the teams last met, said: ‘What is the point of getting top four if you’re going to perform like this in the Champions League? You’re going for the top four but what for? They haven’t performed in any game I’ve seen here in the Champions League.’
Spurs have not won scored in any of their last five Champions League knock-out games, a run stretching back to the semi-final win in Ajax in 2019.
Milan celebrated reaching the last eight and boss Stefano Pioli said: ‘We deserved to go through. We outdid our opponents in both games. We never gave up, always tried to play our game, going forward.’
Milan’s former Arsenal and Chelsea striker Olivier Giroud added: ‘It’s a great result. We made it to the last 16 and we deserved this result, even though we could have scored more. We showed quality, spirit, and we could have won tonight as well.’