"He's a selfish player" - Antonio Conte responds to Richarlison explosive interview

In response to the explosive interview Richarlison gave after Wednesday's Champions League loss to AC Milan, Antonio Conte called the failed Richarlison of Tottenham "selfish".

Spurs were eliminated from the European competition after a dull 0-0 draw in which they managed just two shots on goal in front of a disgruntled home crowd that ended the night by calling for the rehiring of former manager Mauricio Pochettino.

Richarlison, who was restricted to a 20 minute cameo as a second half substitute, poured out his soul to Brazilian media after the game and took issue with his manager's tactics and described his side's season as 's***'.

The Brazilian international, who cost £60 million and was acquired from Everton, has struggled under Conte, but the Tottenham manager is adamant that he can still contribute during the final stretch of the campaign despite not having scored a Premier League goal yet.

Conte said: ‘First of all I watched the interview of Richarlison. He didn’t criticise me. He said his season was (expletive) and he’s right. His season has been not good.

‘He had injuries, played in the Champions League and then went to the World Cup and then had a serious injury.

‘He’s scored no goals for us. I think he was really honest to say his season was not good. His season has not finished yet. If he deserves to play I’ll give him the opportunity.’

Conte continued: ‘For the rest of the interview, I think he made a mistake. When you speak of ‘I’ and not ‘us’ you are being selfish.

‘I say to my players if we want to build something important and win a trophy we have to speak with ‘we’ not with ‘I’, because otherwise you’re thinking of yourself.

‘He made a mistake and he apologised and it was good for me to clarify with the team again about this. In this aspect we have to improve. We have to be more of a team and show more spirit positive, especially in negative moments.

‘Sometimes it’s not enough to be a good guy. You have to to show the right desire and fight to win the game and the duels, to be nasty.

‘I think that sometimes we are a bit soft, but I’m the coach and I’m the first responsible for this to happen and it doesn’t happen every time.

‘I have to improve the team and I have to improve the spirit of my team. It always happened in the past and I hope it happens here.’