Spurs assistant Cristian Stellini hailed match-winner Harry Kane and proved why he is Antonio Conte’s right-hand man in his post-Manchester City interview.
Tottenham stunned the Premier League champions with a 1-0 victory in north London through Kane’s record-breaking goal.
The 29-year-old scored his 267th goal in Spurs colours – and 200th of his Premier League career – to take Spurs within a point of fourth-placed Newcastle.
Stellini, who took charge in place of the ill Conte, honoured England captain Kane after the match.
“It was a tough week and we have to give a great compliment to all the players and the staff. It was a tough week because we lost Antonio this week, hopefully he’ll be back next week. He’ll be back happy now,” Stellini told Sky Sports.
“I spoke to him on the phone just now and he said congratulations to the team and especially Harry.
“Harry Kane, in his DNA, he has football,” Stellini added. “He understands football in every moment. He can play in any position. He is a GOAT in this league, in this sport. He is a great example.”
Tottenham ended the game with 35 per cent possession, having four shots to Manchester City’s eight in the final half an hour. Stellini described this third clean sheet in five league games as a result of Conte’s favourite pastime: having to “suffer”.
“The key was the capacity to suffer when City have the ball. We know when we play against this team we have to suffer because they have the ball a lot but we moved well in the defensive situation and defended the goal in a brilliant way.
“We knew very well that in that game we lost our key – our capacity to suffer. We lost that last time, we spoke about that situation and that we had to be angry, motivated.
“To reach our target, we have to suffer more, to fight. When you are winning against City, they can play with great pace. You have to be strong and we controlled the space very well.
“I cannot speak like I am the opponent but we are a big beast as well with different skills. We knew this but we cannot explain it before the game. It’s not the right thing to do. But we know our skill and our capacity. We have to show this for 90 minutes plus injury time.
“Today we did well in the first and second half because the desire to win and the desire to not concede a goal was really amazing and all the players showed that.”