Andre Villas-Boas was sacked by Chelsea in March.
Andre Villas-Boas was sacked by Chelsea in March.
Andre Villas-Boas was sacked by Chelsea in March.
Andre Villas-Boas was sacked by Chelsea in March.

Sport

Revenge of another kind for Villas-Boas

The Spurs coach says his personal grudge aside, team's past defeats against Chelsea are hurting.

Press Association

October 18, 2012

  • English
  • Arabic

Andre Villas-Boas, the Tottenham Hotspur manager, is refusing to treat tomorrow's Premier League clash against his former side Chelsea as a personal revenge mission.

The 35 year old was dismissed as the Chelsea manager in March after less than nine months in charge and faces them for the first time since replacing Harry Redknapp at White Hart Lane.

But despite leaving Stamford Bridge under a cloud, Villas-Boas will not be treating the match any differently to any other league fixture.

He said: "In the end there is one thing which has been to a certain extent blown out of proportion in some ways - this is certainly not a personal matter.

"This game is not going to decide the future of both teams in the Premier League - after this game there will be 30 more games to play and both teams will have decisive matches in front of them.

"It counts as three points. It doesn't win us a trophy."

The former Porto manager did, however, suggest that his players may have revenge on their minds when they run out to play the European champions.

Chelsea's first ever European Cup success meant Spurs missed out on this season's Champions League despite finishing fourth in the league.

Spurs were also beaten 5-1 by their London rivals in the semi-final of last year's FA Cup and Villas-Boas feels his squad could be looking to get their own back on Saturday.

He said: "It is the team who took this club out of the Champions League, this is the team who prevented this team from playing in FA Cup final last year.

"So in the end we certainly have ingredients for it to be a spectacular match, hopefully."

Meanwhile, Villas-Boas has offered his support to Danny Rose after the winger suffered apparent racist abuse while playing for England Under 21s on Tuesday night.

Rose is on loan at Sunderland but Villas-Boas said he had spoken to the 22 year old, who was sent off after the final whistle in the Euro 2013 play-off in Serbia.

He said: "It's extremely difficult for Danny. He was disappointed by that happening, by the situation which he had to live with, the atmosphere he was confronted with.

"I told Daniel I support him completely in this situation. He felt abused and this is obviously a serious matter which at the moment is in the hands of both FAs."

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