Antonio Conte confessed Chelsea “have a tendency to fire their Coaches. I intend to respect my contract, but both parties need to be happy.”
The Italian tactician spoke to Mediaset Premium after tonight’s 1-1 Champions League draw with Barcelona at Stamford Bridge.
His tactical plan worked wonderfully, stifling the Blaugrana and hitting the woodwork twice with Willian before the midfielder finally found the near bottom corner from the edge of the box.
Antonio Conte confessed Chelsea “have a tendency to fire their Coaches. I intend to respect my contract, but both parties need to be happy.”
The Italian tactician spoke to Mediaset Premium after tonight’s 1-1 Champions League draw with Barcelona at Stamford Bridge.
His tactical plan worked wonderfully, stifling the Blaugrana and hitting the woodwork twice with Willian before the midfielder finally found the near bottom corner from the edge of the box.
There was only one error and Barcelona made the most of it, as Andreas Christensen’s square pass across the final third was intercepted by Andres Iniesta for a Leo Messi finish.
“It’s a pity about the draw and there are regrets, because when you play against a side like Barcelona, you need the perfect performance to win,” Conte told Italian television.
“We did that for nine tenths of the game and unfortunately paid for our only error. Now we need a massive performance at Camp Nou.
“Playing Alvaro Morata from the start, with him and Eden Hazard, without Willian or Pedro, would’ve lost our balance. It would’ve been suicidal.”
Naturally, Conte was asked about his future and the potential return to the Italy job.
“In 14 years, Chelsea have changed Coach 10 times, so they do have a tendency to chop and change here. The media also plays on this habit the moment there are negative results. They were already writing headlines about my dismissal after the opening game against Burnley.
“It’s no problem for me, in fact I really like pressure. I just hope it doesn’t affect the players.
“I said very clearly, I have a contract to 2019. I intend to respect it. After that, anything can happen in football. I am happy at Chelsea, but both parties need to be happy.
“In our line of work, we always have a bag packed. My intention is to remain here, but if something were to change, there would be several different scenarios opening up.”