Antonio Conte handed punishment for Marseille and cannot speak with his players

Tottenham Hotspur’s Champions League fate will come down to the outcome of their match against Marseille on Tuesday evening.

Spurs will have to make do without the presence of head coach Antonio Conte after the Italian was sent off in the final few minutes of last night’s 1-1 draw with Sporting CP.

Harry Kane’s goal deep into stoppage time had looked to have given Tottenham a 2-1 win against their Portuguese opponents and also booked their place in the last sixteen of the competition, only for VAR to intervene and decide that Kane was in an offside position when he had received the ball from an Emerson Royal header.

The goal had sparked wild celebrations with Conte jumping down the touchline and embracing the rest of his backroom staff before the VAR decision lasted around four minutes and was subsequently chalked off, which saw the Italian question the decision to referee Danny Makeelie which ended in the Dutchman brandishing a red card.

PA via Yahoo are reporting that Conte will serve an automatic one-match suspension which means he will not be able to be at pitchside at the Stade Vélodrome, nor will be permitted to communicate with his players before or during the match and cannot enter the dressing room or tunnel.  Instead, he will have to take his place in the stand as a spectator.

He could also face further punishment once Makeelie hands in his match report to UEFA.

SpursWeb Opinion

When it rains it pours, it appeared that Conte had simply asked the referee for an explanation of what had happened and he decided to flex his authority by harshly showing Conte a red card.

The repercussions now mean that his involvement in Marseille will be extremely limited and his presence on the touchline to coach his players into position will not be allowed.

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