Antonio Conte says Richarlison comments were not aimed at him

Tottenham Hotspur manager Antonio Conte says Richarlison was right about his comments following the club’s elimination from the UEFA Champions League.

The north London side exited the competition at the round of 16 stage after a 1-0 aggregate loss to AC Milan.

After Wednesday’s heartbreaking Champions League draw with Milan, Richarlison fired back at his coach.

Conte agreed with Richarlison’s remarks about his poor first season at Spurs, but he called the Brazil international “selfish” for concentrating on himself rather than the team.

“First of all I watched the interview of Richarlison. He didn’t criticise me. He said his season was s— and he’s right. His season has been not good,” Conte said in a news conference on Friday.

“He had injuries, played and scored in the Champions League and then went to the World Cup and then had a serious injury. He’s scored no [Premier League] goals for us. I think he was really honest to say his season was not good. His season has not finished yet. If he deserves to play I’ll give him the opportunity.”

He added: “When you speak of ‘I’ and not ‘us’ you are being selfish. I say to my players if we want to build something important and win a trophy we have to speak with ‘we’ not with ‘I’, because otherwise you’re thinking of yourself.

“He made a mistake and he apologised and it was good for me to clarify again the importance of team spirit. In this aspect we have to improve. We have to be more of a team and show more positive spirit, especially in negative moments.”

In the last ten days, Spurs’ season has come apart; they lost to Wolves in the league, which dealt a blow to their chances of finishing in the top four, and were eliminated from the FA Cup by Championship side Sheffield United.