Marseille boss Igor Tudor has joked that his side chose not to train at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium since Antonio Conte and Fabio Paratici will have seen what the Ligue 1 side were working on.
Tottenham begin their Champions League campaign this evening against a team who are arguably their most in-form opponents in the group stage, despite coming out of pot four.
Marseille have enjoyed an excellent start to the campaign, having won five and drawn one of their six games so far and are only behind on goal difference to league leaders Paris Saint-Germain.
Spurs will be hoping to start the campaign with three points, with away trips to Sporting Lisbon and Eintracht Frankfurt to follow in the next two matchdays.
When asked why his side did not train at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium ahead of their clash this evening, Tudor said (via Football.London): “We take this decision because we think it’s a better option.
“We could prepare better this morning as here we don’t have much time to prepare for the game.
“Because if we prepare the training here Antonio will see all the training and director Paratici from Juventus, they will be there with the camera! So better prepare this morning in Marseille.”
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Tudor and Conte shared a dressing room at Juventus for many years during their playing days while the Croat was also managed by the Italian during the start of his coaching career.
The Marseille boss spoke in glowing terms about the 53-year-old, labelling him as “one of the best in the word”.
Tudor said about Conte: “Antonio I know him as a human being, as a person. When I came to Juventus I was only 20 and I found a dressing room with players like him [Ciro] Ferrara, [Paolo] Montero, [Alessandro] Del Piero.
“Players who have value, not only as player but a person. He was one of guys who was always exemplary, not by speaking but by his behaviour. In the end, the best way to look is behaving the right way.
“Then after I had him as an assistant coach when I go to play at Siena he was assistant coach to me there for one year.
“Then after when I started to try to be a coach he was there at Juventus first time was there. He permit me to see all the training one week and I learn a lot from him.
“Now he’s one of the best in the world. The coaches are there but I think always decided by the players. They are the protagonists and in the end, they are the ones who will decide the game.”
Spurs Web Opinion
This evening’s game will not be a straightforward one for Spurs as Marseille are a very well-organised outfit who have some talented players going forward. We will likely have to be patient and the contest could well be decided by the odd goal.
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