Antonio and Hugo pay tribute to Gian Piero
Sat 08 October 2022, 17:00|Tottenham Hotspur
Antonio Conte and Hugo Lloris have paid tribute to the late Gian Piero Ventrone ahead of this evening's Premier League clash with Brighton.
On Thursday morning, we learned of the incredibly sad news of our Fitness Coach's passing, aged 61
Having previously coached Antonio as a player at Juventus, when our Head Coach moved into management, Gian Piero soon joined his coaching staff with them first linking up at Bari in 2007. He then worked with him at both Atalanta and Siena before he followed Antonio to north London in November, 2021.
"I think, to find words for Gian Piero is very difficult in this moment," Antonio said ahead of our game at the Amex Stadium. "We are really devastated, the pain, for what happened, also because no one deserves this situation.
"Sometimes, you know life is not always positive situations and for this reason, we have to cope in the best possible way. Also, because I know Gian Piero wanted us to stay strong and continue to do our work in the way he taught us."
Ahead of the game, skipper Hugo spoke of the impact that Gian Piero had on the the squad during his 11 months at Hotspur Way.
“It’s been a hard few days,” Hugo said. “Even if we try to move on, we can not forget. We cannot forget the man; we cannot forget the coach he was and the importance he had in the changing room. Obviously, we have tried to prepare the game as well as we could, but it has not been easy. As I said, we cannot forget but we are going to try to move on and obviously today, we are going to respond together as a team.
“We really need a strong team performance today, both because of the circumstances and also because Brighton is a very hard team to play against and a very difficult place to deal with."