ANTONIO CONTE BELIEVES changes must be made to Premier League fixtures to help English clubs progress further in the Champions League.
Chelsea face Qarabag in Group C on Wednesday before travelling to Anfield to take on Liverpool in a key Premier League clash on Saturday.
No English clubs have reached the final of the Champions League since Chelsea defeated Bayern Munich in the Bundesliga giants’ Allianz Arena home in May 2012.
And Conte has called on sides in continental competitions to be given more help when it comes to scheduling their league matches around European trips.
“For sure I have to make the best decision for these games, because we are playing every three days and it is normal to have rotation,” Conte told a news conference on Tuesday.
“I trust my players and am very sure about my choice. I trust all my players and it is normal to have rotation.
“For us the game against Qarabag is very important as we don’t want to wait to go through to the next round. When you wait or you arrive in this type of moment it could be more difficult for us.
“I would like to underline that I am talking about all teams that are playing in the Champions League, not only Chelsea. England needs to try to understand this and try to change something.”
Chelsea – who are set to play every midweek until the turn of the year – are top of Group C after four matches and will qualify for the next round if they beat Qarabag.
But Conte is insistent Chelsea will find it hard to chase down Premier League leaders Manchester City – nine points clear of the champions – due to their intensive schedule.
“For us it must go game by game, tomorrow is the most important thing for us,” Conte said. “If we win we go into the next round, it is a really good target for us. To reach this target for us before the game against Atletico [Madrid] will be very important.
“On Saturday we are going to play another tough game against Liverpool. This season it is the second time we have had this situation, firstly against Manchester City and now Liverpool are playing tonight and we play tomorrow, a long trip and it will be very difficult to recover and rest.
“Whoever prepares the fixtures for the league must pay great attention. Because it is difficult to ask if we can catch Manchester City if we are in this situation. I don’t want to find an excuse, but this is the reality.”
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Remember when this happened and John Giles criticized Keane; Dunphy was no.1 Cheerleader at the time and made some serious but spurious allegations about Giles. Amazing how people get so wound up about things that don’t concern them
It was disgusting from Keane. A great player with a horrible attitude to the game. It was in retaliation to what? He injured himself trying to do Hangarland the first time round. It was Karma. Fair enough H gave a bit of verbal when K was on the ground but didn’t know how serious the injury was.
The most disgusting act of violence and cowardice I’ve ever seen on a football pitch. Keane should have been locked up for it. The guy’s a thug.
How did Stephen Ireland have a good career??? Yes he should have had with he’s ability but turned into something you would find with a pub team, he should have been playing in tournaments with ireland but wasted he’s talent, complete joke of a career without a club since 2018.he got move to Newcastle alright only made 2 appearances weaver doesn’t mention that, nor he has been that bad even Bolton didn’t want him.
@Paully Kells: he as being kind
@eddie horgan: was being kind