Tottenham boss Conte explains why the referee sent him off vs Sporting Lisbon

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Tottenham Hotspur boss Antonio Conte has explained why he was sent off by the referee towards the end of his side’s game against Sporting Lisbon last night.

Spurs were awful in the first half and were a goal down at the break. It looked like it was going to be another disappointing defeat, but Conte’s men came out flying in the second half and could’ve easily scored three or four goals.

Tottenham boss Conte explains why the referee sent him off vs Sporting Lisbon

At the very end of the game, when the score was level, Harry Kane did what he does best – scored a hugely important goal for Tottenham. However, it was disallowed.

Kane was adjudged to be offside when Emerson Royal headed the ball down to him.

Spurs fans couldn’t believe what they were seeing, as the Englishman appeared to be well behind Emerson when the replays were first shown. However, the VAR decided he was offside, and Tottenham’s winner was ruled out.

Conte and co were furious on the touchline. The Spurs boss had a real go at the referee for the decision, and he was given a red card. However, after the game, the Italian revealed that his sending-off wasn’t because of his rage, it was only because he had entered the field of play.

He said about the red card in his press conference, as quoted by Football London: “At the end, because all the people come into the pitch, the referee decided to send me off. Only for this.

“I think there are moments that maybe you can be a bit intelligent to understand you have just disallowed a regular goal because the goal was regular. The ball is in front of Kane. And then the VAR.

“I repeat you know I don’t comment on referee decisions but the VAR, this season, I don’t know why between Premier League and Champions League, we are not so lucky. I think we are not so lucky with VAR but I think they create big damage.”

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Conte was absolutely furious at the end of the game last night, and you can’t really blame him, can you?

Spurs played really well in the second half, but they just couldn’t break the deadlock until Rodrigo Bentancur levelled the game in the 80th minute. When Kane found the net at the very end of the game, it was a huge relief for every Tottenham player, staff and fan in the stadium.

However, when it was chalked off after a long check by the VAR, frustration got the better of many. Conte was raging on the touchline and to add to his anger, he was shown a red card.

That’s not ideal at all ahead of Spurs’ trip to Marseille on the final day, where they need results to go their way to ensure qualification to the next round of the Champions League.