Ryan Sessegnon pays tribute to Gian Piero Ventrone after emotional Tottenham Hotspur win vs Brighton
Ryan Sessegnon, like every other Tottenham Hotspur player today, kept Gian Piero Ventrone in his thoughts before, during, and after the game against Brighton and Hove Albion.
The Englishman started down the left flank for us and had a decent game. Harry Kane scored the only goal of the game via a 22nd-minute header and pointed to the sky, dedicating the goal to Ventrone, who passed away earlier this week.
After the match, captain Hugo Lloris held up a Tottenham shirt with our fitness coach’s name on the back as our fans serenaded Ventrone. After the game, Sessegnon posted a tweet with the caption, “Very important win. For you Gian Piero [Sky Blue heart]”
He posted a photo of both teams’ players and fans observing a minute’s silence prior to the kick at the Amex with Gian Piero’s photo displayed on the jumbotron.
After the game, manager Antonio Conte underlined that it has been a tough week for those at Spurs. He said (h/t BBC):
“It was a really tough week for us, not only for me – my staff and players and all the Tottenham environment. He [Ventrone] was a person who was in the heart of every single Tottenham person. It was really tough for us.”
Sessegnon started down the left-hand side in place of Ivan Perisic, who frankly needed a breather before the game against Eintracht Frankfurt at N17 later this week. Matt Doherty came in place of the suspended Emerson Royal down the right-hand side.
It is unlikely that we see the two play in that position again against the UEFA Europa League champions. The Croatia international, who came on for the last 10 minutes against Roberto De Zerbi’s Seagulls today, would be a shoo-in to start while Emerson would certainly be playing.
There is no point benching him when he is anyway set to miss our next two league games due to the red card he got against Arsenal at the Emirates. Meanwhile, Spurs will rightly continue their tributes for Ventrone when Frankfurt visit the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
More Tottenham News:
- Transfer News: Tottenham Hotspur could make January offer for Inter Milan midfielder Marcelo Brozovic
- Transfer News: AC Milan join Tottenham in the race to sign Chelsea defender Trevoh Chalobah
- Emerson and Matt Doherty told they could soon be replaced at Tottenham Hotspur by manager Antonio Conte
It will be our first home game since the tragic incident.
