“The situation hit me a lot": Roberto De Zerbi and Antonio Conte pay emotional tributes to Tottenham fitness coach who died aged 61

Ventrone was a part of Antonio Conte’s coaching team at Tottenham and died from leukaemia less then 48 hours before Spurs’ game against Brighton on Saturday (October 8).

Players, staff members and supporters of both Tottenham and Brighton took part in a minute’s applause before the game to remember the late fitness coach.

The 61-year-old Italian, nicknamed “the Marine” because of his tough sessions, was credited with helping to drive a radical improvement in the players’ fitness since joining the club with Conte last November.

After the match, Albion manager De Zerbi said Ventrone changed ‘the vision of training’ for everyone.

De Zerbi said: “When we talk about football, I have to talk about the game, but the loss of Ventrone is much more important. We are all very sad for him, for his family, for Antonio and for the club. I expressed my condolences, also for me it was very hard in the first minutes of the game.

“I knew him because he was a friend of many of my assistants, Ventrone was a reference for all the Italian physical trainers. He has changed the vision of training for everyone, from the working perspective, it’s a very big loss for everyone."

Harry Kane’s eighth goal of the season was enough for Tottenham to take all three points at the Amex Stadium, in De Zerbi’s first home in charge as Brighton manager.

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Conte admitted post-match it had been very difficult for him and his players to focus on Saturday’s game, following the news of the well-loved Ventrone’s passing.

Conte said: “It was really difficult for us to be focused on the game. What happened in the last three days was incredible, I knew the situation was really problematic after the game against Frankfurt, but no one could expect this. No one knew something about his condition.

“The situation hit me a lot from an emotional aspect, it’s very difficult to cover your feelings with the players, with the people that work at Tottenham.

“The players were really devastated by the pain, the whole environment was really bad, in only ten months Ventrone got to the heart of everybody. We are talking about a great worker and a scientist.

"My players were really devastated by the pain, believe me, but this is life and it happens to many people. You have to tried to cope with this situation in the best possible way.”