The equalizer in injury time apparently gets the adrenaline flowing for Thomas Tuchel and Antonio Conte: After the final whistle of the London city derby between Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur, both coaches freak out – and deliver a physical shouting.
Chelsea FC and coach Thomas Tuchel suffered their first setback in the English Premier League on the second day of the game. Due to a late equalizer from Harry Kane, the Blues couldn’t get past a 2-2 (1-0) win over Tottenham Hotspur in a thrilling London city duel. After the final whistle, there was a wild quarrel between Tuchel and Spurs coach Antonio Conte.
When both met for the obligatory handshake after the final whistle, the already tense atmosphere during the game escalated: Tuchel didn’t let go of Conte’s hand, who wanted to do the job in passing and asked his colleague to look him in the eye when shaking hands. In a flash, both coaches were standing head to head on the field and, quickly surrounded by players and their respective staffs, were yelling at each other and had to be separated from each other. The referee showed both coaches red cards.
“I thought that you look into each other’s eyes when we shake hands, but he had a different opinion,” said Tuchel afterwards about the trigger for the tumult. The fact that both saw red was “not necessary”, said the former Bundesliga coach. “But a lot of things weren’t necessary today. Another bad decision by the referee.”
Chelsea were clearly the better team throughout the game – and yet England international Kane equalized in the sixth minute of added time for Spurs. The anger between Tuchel and Conte started when the Italian cheered loudly in the direction of the Chelsea bench at the first equalizer and thus visibly caused trouble for the “Blues”.
Even then, both coaches clashed violently and had to be separated from each other. According to Tuchel, the goal was preceded by a foul on German international Kai Havertz. When Reece James scored what was supposed to be the winning goal for Chelsea in the 77th minute, Tuchel sprinted and hopped along the sidelines to celebrate.
Two minutes earlier, Havertz had missed the great opportunity to score from five meters. Kalidou Koulibaly (19′) scored to make it 1-0 for Chelsea, while former Bayern professional Pierre Emile Højbjerg (68′) ensured Spurs equalized 1-1 in the meantime. With four points from two games, Chelsea are two points behind champions and leaders Manchester City.
