Europa Conference League: Tottenham scrape win in Antonio Conte’s first game

Tottenham came close to squandering a three-goal lead in Antonio Conte’s first game in charge but eventually prevailed 3-2 against Dutch side Vitesse in the Europa Conference League.

It was an eventful introduction for the new Tottenham manager, with Spurs reduced to 10 men and Vitesse finishing with nine.

Conte was given the perfect start though, as Spurs led by three goals inside the opening half-hour thanks to goals from Son Heung-min, Lucas Moura and a Jacob Rasmussen own goal.

Rasmussen atoned by heading in from a corner before Matus Bero’s strike reduced the deficit before halftime.

Cristian Romero was shown the red card after the break for a challenge on Luis Openda and Hugo Lloris needed to come to Spurs’ rescue twice to keep out Openda and Riechedly Bazoer.

Vitesse’s two red cards both came in the final 10 minutes. First Danilho Doeki was shown a second yellow card after a foul on Harry Kane before goalkeeper Markus Schubert was given his marching orders for handling outside the area.

“In my opinion and my mind there is a lot of space for improvement for this team, in every single player,” Conte told BT Sport.

“We need to have a bit of patience because we need to work on many aspects – tactically and physically and also the players have to understand what I want.

“I’m not afraid about the work. I know only through the work you can reach important targets.”

The result sees Tottenham move into second place in Group G, one point above Vitesse.

Cover Photo: “Conte nuovo “allenatore” della Nazionale. È tutto oro quello che luccica?” by Nazionale Calcio used under license by CC BY 2.0.