Antonio Conte has said doctors blocked him from returning to work at Tottenham sooner after admitting he “underestimated the recovery and overestimated my body” following gallbladder surgery.
The 53-year-old will return to the dugout for Wednesday’s crucial Champions League round-of-16 second-leg clash with AC Milan where they must overturn a 1-0 deficit from the first leg.
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Conte underwent an operation at the start of February and quickly resumed his duties for a 4-1 Premier League defeat at Leicester City before overseeing the first leg defeat in Milan.
Conte then took further time out, missing the club’s next four matches including a win over Chelsea and last week’s FA Cup fifth round exit to Sheffield United as he continued his recovery in Italy before returning to London on Sunday.
“Honestly I wanted to come back after the game against Sheffield United but the doctor stopped me and said: ‘Now, you have to listen to us and wait two more days. Then on Sunday you come back to London for the game against Milan.’
“For me, honestly, I wanted to come back early but in this case, I should respect the doctor and also Tottenham’s doctors because they were really worried after the game against Milan, the first leg.
“For this reason I come back on Sunday. Now I repeat I am well. And yesterday I tried during the training session … I have a lot of energy and I want to transfer my energy to my players for this important game.
“For sure, I underevaluated the recovery after surgery. For my sense of responsibility I wanted to come back early but I under evaluated the surgery and maybe I over evaluated by body and myself. But now I am well. I have recovered energy. I have to still recover weight but for the rest, I am ok. My feeling is good. I have a lot of energy. I will try to transfer my energy to my players because it’s an important game for us.”
Conte also said his players must develop greater resilience in difficult matches, urging them to heed the lessons from their embarrassing defeat at Championship side Sheffield United last week.
“We need to learn,” Conte said. “If you don’t learn anything about this type of defeats, it means you’re ready to have another defeat next year. I hope after this type of negative game, the players learn a lot.
“About a defeat you can learn a lot. When you win, usually you’re happy, you have not a lot to learn. After a defeat you have to learn a lot. We’re really disappointed for what happened [against Sheffield United], especially for our fans because we know very well our fans expectation and they wanted to see the team lift the trophy. For this season, we’re really disappointed.
“Maybe If there is one thing that we have to try to improve, the whole environment here is to live with the pressure.
“To live with the pressure, it can mean sometimes to be a bit stressed, not always be at peace with yourself, but to stress yourself and to put pressure in a positive way. I think that in this aspect we can improve a lot and whole environment can improve a lot in this aspect.”
