Tottenham paid tribute in the best possible way to Gian Piero Ventrone, their late fitness coach, by beating Brighton 1-0 Saturday.
The outfit from North London confirmed the Tragic passing of the 61-year oldOn Thursday morning, they will be heading to the Amex Stadium.
Ventrone, who joined Spurs in 2021 as part of Conte’s backroom team, died suddenly of fulminant leukaemia.
A hugely popular member of the club’s dressing roomDuring their warm-up on South Coast, Spurs players made tributes to the Italian.
The squad wore T-shirts which read: “Always in our hearts, Gian Piero.”
Conte was close to tears before the match kicked off as the whole stadium remembered his colleague with a minute’s applause.
And Harry Kane was quick to pay his respect to Ventrone – nicknamed ‘The Marine’ due to his intense training – after he broke the deadlock against Brighton.
The English striker headed home in the 22nd minute after getting on the end of Son Heung-min’s fizzing cross.
Kane touched his black armband as part of the celebrations and pointed towards the sky.
This was the only goal in the game. The visitors stood firm against the Seagulls and returned to winning ways after their 3-1 loss to Arsenal.
Brighton barely created any clear-cut chances as they struggled to carve out any opportunities against Spurs’ low block.
In the wake of Ventrone’s death, ConteHe cancelled his press conference prior to the match.
But he commented on his friend in an interview with Sky Sports prior to the match, where he said: “To find words for Gian Piero is very difficult at this moment.
“We are really devastated by the pain of what happened.
“Also because no one expected this situation.
“But sometimes you know life is not always positive situations and for this reason we have to cope in the best possible way.
“Because I know Gian Piero wanted to stay strong and continue to do our work in the way that he taught us.”
Kane was very emotional after the match.
He told Sky: “Really proud of the boys today, it’s been a tough week.
“To come here, away from home, it’s a really difficult place to come.
“We didn’t play as well as we know we can, but we dug deep.”
