Tottenham Hotspur manager Antonio Conte responds to Richarlison interview: ‘He didn’t criticise me!’

The Brazilian was introduced off the bench in the 70th minute as Spurs played out a goalless draw with the Italian giants, rarely threatening to overturn the 1-0 first-leg deficit until Harry Kane forced a fine late stop from Mike Maignan.

And Richarlison, who has only scored in one game for Spurs since his £60 million move from Everton last summer, was upset after being left out of the side for the second leg, with Harry Kane, Son Heung-min and Dejan Kulusevski preferred in attack.

Cristian Stellini has taken charge of recent matches but Antonio Conte returned to lead the team against AC Milan.

“All of a sudden, I’m on the bench, against Wolverhampton [a 1-0 defeat] I was put on for five minutes. I asked why, they didn’t tell me anything.

“And, yesterday, they asked me to do a test in the academy, so that if I was well I would play the game, and when the game arrived, they left me on the bench.

“These are things you can’t understand. Let’s see what he says tomorrow, but I’m also no fool, I’m a professional, I work all day and I want to play. Missing minutes, missing time.

“This season, sorry for the word, it is a s***, because I don’t have minutes, I suffered a little with the injury. But, when I enter the field, I give my life. I came off the back of two good games, I think it’s that, I think that I should have played and I don’t have to cry about it.”

Conte – who has recently returned after time off to recover from gallbladder surgery – addressed the interview in his pre-match press conference for the Nottingham Forest match on Saturday.

“I watched the interview of Richarlison, he didn’t criticise me. He said my season is s*** and he’s right. His season is not good because he had a lot of injuries.

“He started well with us, [but] he has an injury in the Champions League, then he went to the World Cup and then he had another injury, serious. He came back, stayed one month out, and then another injury.

“He’s scored zero goals with us, only two goals in [the] Champions League,” Conte added. “I think the guy was really honest, to tell [us] that his season is not good.

“His season, our season, has still not finished. He has the time to recover and if he deserves to play I’ll give him the opportunity otherwise we play another player.”

With Spurs 18 points behind league leaders and north London rivals Arsenal, they will host Forest at home on Saturday with the goal of finishing in the Premier League’s top four.