Tottenham 2-1 Brighton (Son 10′, Kane 79′, Stellini red card 61′ | Dunk 34′, De Zerbi red card 61′)
TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR STADIUM – Roberto De Zerbi has accused Christian Stellini of not showing him “respect” after both head coaches received red cards during a moody top-four clash at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
After two costly draws that looked like defeats to Southampton and Everton, the Spurs beat Brighton under the Easter sun, but no one here will know how they did it.
Brighton were disallowed two goals – one highly controversial, one less controversial – and a strong penalty case was dropped after Pierre-Émile Hoybjerg seemingly stomped Kaoru Mitoma’s foot. By the final whistle, Brighton had made 17 shots against Tottenham’s nine and dominated possession with 65%, but eventually returned disappointed to the south coast.
It was a significant day; Son Heung-min scored his 100th Premier League goal, becoming the first Asian player to reach the milestone. Lewis Dunk ended his 200th top division game with a thunderous header and Harry Kane scored his 25th goal of the season to win the game. But entertainment on the field was accompanied by events off the field.
The heated confrontation that began before kick-off, when Christian Stellini and Roberto De Zerbi had a lively discussion on the pitch, flared up at the hour when both benches collided with each other during the game. Stellini and De Zerbi were fired because they couldn’t control their employees’ emotions. For the last half hour, the Zerby have been watching from the locker room; at least they are spacious in the NFL’s unofficial home in London.
“I’m used to always respecting everyone on and off the field and I don’t like it when people don’t respect me,” de Zerby said after the game. “But that’s the normal situation in football.”
De Zerby explained why he feels like Stellini doesn’t respect him, adding, “It’s personal, isn’t it? I always respect everyone, especially coaches. I can answer for myself, not for him. Yes [I feel he didn’t respect me]. It was a personal situation and I told him my idea. No bad words, just my idea.”
Zerby also accused the Spurs bench of “putting pressure on the referee” and explained why tensions are so high midway through the second half.
The Italian’s comments were interesting as Stellini insisted that he “respects everyone” when asked about his interpretation of the incident.
“All I can say is what happens on the field, stays on the field,” Stellini said after the game. “Sometimes it seems that something is wrong, but it is not. I want everyone to understand that this is my second game as head coach of Tottenham Hotspur and I want to respect all the managers in the Premier League.”
Stellini was visibly flustered by his dismissal, but added of the incident: “I tried to stay calm and focus on the players but lost focus on the bench, that’s the rule, I have to respect the rule, but even if you look at what happened, I was polite and calm.”
The Spurs took the lead thanks to a spectacular finish from South Korean Son, who scored a ton in his 260th Premier League game. Son can be a scorer, but shooting from the edge of the box to the top corner is his most spectacular move. The man with the camera party gave the perfect conclusion.
If Son is in the Premier League then Mitoma was a breakthrough this season and felt he had scored his eighth goal of the season to equalize but was controversially banned from playing handball. Brighton will argue that the contact was more of a shoulder than a hand.
However, Brighton scored his goal soon after. Solly March’s back post loop found Dunk, who headed it into the far corner. Christian Romero was handsome, and Ivan Perisic was lost mid-flight as Dunk raced toward the net unnoticed and unhindered.
Brighton were further hurt by VAR when they scored for the third time after the break. The march brought Danny Welbeck into the box and a shot on goal from the former Arsenal striker went wide of Hugo Lloris thanks to a touch from Alexis Mac Allister. Unfortunately for the Argentine, the golden touch came through his hand.
Mitoma was the most popular player in the game, as well as the most unlucky one. An already controversial goal denial, he was denied a penalty after Hojbjerg’s apparent contact. The Brighton bank was shocked when Stuart Attwell dismissed the appeal.
“Sometimes I wonder if the rules are the same in Italy, Ukraine, the Champions League and the Premier League,” De Zerby said. “I was in the dressing room when the Mitoma situation came up and I think it’s too obvious. [to be a penalty]”.
Having withstood heavy pressure and suffered numerous misses, Spurs inevitably took a different path and scored the winning goal thanks to an effectively executed counter-attack, which Kane ruthlessly stopped. After a tough couple of weeks, it was a very pleasant three points for the Spurs in their quest to get into the top four.
Source: I News
I’m Dave Martin, and I’m an experienced journalist working in the news industry. As a part of my work, I write for 24 News Reporters, covering mostly sports-related topics. With more than 5 years of experience as a journalist, I have written numerous articles on various topics to provide accurate information to readers.