Antonio Conte and Harry Kane emotional as Tottenham beat Brighton 1-0 and pay tribute to late fitness coach Gian Piero Ventrone
Tottenham paid tribute to their late fitness coach Gian Piero Ventrone in the best way possible by beating Brighton 1-0 on Saturday.
The North London outfit confirmed the tragic passing of the 61-year-old on Thursday morning ahead of their trip 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 room, Spurs players paid tributes to the Italian during their warm-up on the south coast.
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.
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As part of his celebrations, Kane touched his black armband while pointing towards the sky.
It turned out to be the only goal of the game as the visitors defended resolutely against the Seagulls to return to winnings ways after their 3-1 defeat 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, Conte cancelled his pre-match press conference.
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."
After the game, Kane was emotional in his post-match interview.
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."