ottham will pay a moving tribute to the late physical trainer Gian Piero Ventrone before tomorrow’s game in Brighton.
Away players will warm up in shirts bearing the slogan ‘Always in our hearts — Gian Piero’ in both English and Italian and both teams will wear black armbands. There will be a minute of applause before kick-off.
More tributes are planned for next Wednesday’s Champions League match against Eintracht Frankfurt.
Ventrone passed away from acute leukemia following a sudden illness, leaving several members of the Spurs team and head coach Antonio Conte devastated. He was 61 years old.
Several players paid tribute yesterday to Ventrone, nicknamed ‘the Marine’ in his homeland after serving in the Italian navy and his grueling physical exercises, but known as ‘Prof’ at Spurs.
Heung-min Son, who was particularly close to Ventrone, wrote on Instagram, “The world has lost a truly special person. Gian Piero, you got me through the toughest times and together we celebrated some amazing memories. I cannot express enough my gratitude to you and how much I owe you. We will miss you very, very much. Thanks for everything my friend. I send all my love to you and your whole family.”
Harry Kane wrote on Twitter: “A truly remarkable man. I am devastated by the passing of our coach Gian Piero. My love and strength goes out to his family at this time. His words and wisdom will live with me for the rest of my life and I am grateful that I had the opportunity to spend time with him. RIP Prof.”
Summer signing Richarlison tweeted: “Since I arrived at Tottenham, Gian has been a huge inspiration to me. Today we woke up with the terrible news of his passing and we are all devastated. We will continue to play for you, my friend, who taught us never to give up! Thank you very much and rest in peace!”
The Italian newspaper Gazzetta dello Sport published last night an interview with Ventrone conducted a week ago, focused on his methods and, specifically, on the prevention of muscle injuries. In it, he described his friend Conte’s philosophy as a “kind of gospel.” Ventrone said: “The training sessions? At Tottenham they are played at game pace. Our sessions are very long: an hour and a half, almost two, instead of the usual 50 minutes.
“Conte has developed a culture and a work methodology that is no different from mine, based on the athlete’s adaptability to suffering, on his ability not to easily give in to fatigue. For Conte this philosophy has become a kind of gospel. We have had very few problems with muscular overload”.
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