sport news Antonio Conte has had a season of trauma... after the deaths of close friends ... trends now
View
comments
This has been a difficult and emotional season for Antonio Conte, quite aside from the usual stress and strain of management on the touchlines of the Premier League.
In October, he was reeling from the sudden death of Gian Piero Ventrone, his friend for many years, close confidante and Tottenham’s fitness guru.
Two months later, another friend Sinisa Mihajlovic lost a long fight with cancer aged 53, the same age as Conte. And then, only last month, more trauma with the passing of friend and former team-mate Gianluca Vialli.
His assistant Cristian Stellini, described him as a ‘tough man’ with ‘closed feelings’ when he stepped in to take care of Conte’s media duties after Vialli’s death.
‘We have to stay close to him, stay together,’ Stellini added with concern. ‘This is a family behaviour and we are like a family. You have to stay close and show love.’
Antonio Conte's close friend Gian Piero Ventrone, left, suddenly passed away in October
Conte's former Juventus team-mate Gianluca Vialli died of pancreatic cancer last month
There is nothing to directly link Conte’s emotional duress to complications with his health which surfaced last week, the abdominal pain that grew more acute and surgery to
