Chelsea’s Thomas Tuchel said he “has no hard feelings for Antonio Conte” despite receiving a red card at the end of Sunday’s stormy 2-2 draw with Tottenham Hotspur in the Premier League.
“I felt like it was a fair ball from him and a fair tackle from me. We don’t insult each other, we don’t fight, we fight for our team and from my side there are absolutely no hard feelings. I was surprised that we both got red cards for that,” said the German.
Tuchel experienced mixed emotions on a sweltering afternoon at Stamford Bridge – anger at both Tottenham’s goals, the second one scored by Harry Kane in sixth minute of injury time, and the joy of Reece James initially restored the leading position for Chelsea.
Former Chelsea manager Antonio Conte was also shown a red card after his second clash of the day with Tuchel, this time after the final whistle.
It’s easy to sympathize with Tuchel, who dominated the team impressively after Kalidou Koulibaly’s home goal in the 19th minute.
“I’m not disappointed, I’m the happiest manager in the world,” the German told Sky Sports. “We were absolutely brilliant. Only one side deserves to win and that’s us. Both of their goals are untenable.”
Tuchel felt that Kai Havertz had been fouled in the build-up to Tottenham’s equalizer, scored by Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg in the 68th minute, and that Richarlison was offside and blocked goalkeeper Edouard Mendy’s line of sight.
Then, just before Kane’s impressive leveling, Tuchel said rookie Marc Cucurella had his hair pulled by Tottenham midfielder Cristian Romero.
“There was a clear foul on Kai Havertz and it just kept going. Richarlison was offside and when can you pull your hair out on the football field? ‘ said Tuchel.
“We were hungry, it was a top performance. I apologize to all my players that we didn’t get the results we deserved.”
Tuchel played down the fire between himself and Conte during and immediately after the game.
“Hot from the heat and hot between the benches and hot on the pitch and hot in the audience – all you want and what you hope for in a game like this at the start of the season,” he told. BBC Match of the Day.
Tottenham were delighted to earn a point on the pitch that they have won only once in their last 38 visits, even if they were lucky to avoid defeat.
“My opinion is that it’s better to talk about the game,” Italian Conte said of his clash with Tuchel.
“Chelsea have shown they are a really good team. Compared to last season, we did better but if we want to create problems for Chelsea (in the table), we have to be better.”
