Conte casts doubt on Spurs future as Champions League woes continue

Antonio Conte's dismal record in the Champions League continued as his Tottenham Hotspur exited in the last 16 after a dreary 0-0 draw at home to AC Milan on Wednesday night.

Tottenham never really threatened to overturn a 1-0 deficit from the first leg and went out with a whimper and boos from the home fans, whose patience is running out.

Conte returned to the technical area after missing the last four games after gallbladder surgery but was as subdued as his team froze on a freezing night in north London.

In six Champions League campaigns with Juventus, Inter Milan, Chelsea and Tottenham, the Italian has only managed to reach the Champions League quarterfinals once.

With his contract up in June, Wednesday's defeat felt like the beginning of the end of an era even if his side remain in contention to finish in the Premier League top four.

Whether Conte remains for the rest of the season is not certain, judging by his comments to Italy's Amazon Prime.

“I continue to work, I have a contract with Tottenham. I respect the contract. At the end of the season, assessments will be made with the club in the most serene way,” he said.

“Let's see how the season ends. Maybe they can send me away even earlier. Perhaps the expectations were higher and maybe disappointed.

“What matters for a coach is trying to work and raise the bar. This year we are struggling to raise the bar.”

Conte tried to talk about Tottenham's last 16 exit as progress, arguing that last season they were in the Europa Conference League, but the fans are unlikely to agree.

“We played in the Europa Conference League last year and weren't able to get out of the group stages. Now we took a step forward but it is not enough and if we want to be competitive, We have to fight.”

Tottenham have failed to score in their last three games, losing in the FA Cup to second-tier Sheffield United, to Wolverhampton Wanderers in the Premier League and now barely laying a glove on an average Milan.

In his news conference, Conte said he was sorry for the fans but that the club needed to go “step by step”.

“I always say the same things — we need time and patience. We don't have solid foundations to fight and win,” Conte, who dragged Tottenham into fourth place in the Premier League last season, said.

Also on Wednesday night, Bayern Munich forward Eric-Maxim Choupo-Moting scored against his former club and Serge Gnabry added a late second as the Germans beat Paris St Germain 2-0 on to reach the quarterfinals.

The 33-year-old Choupo-Moting, who played for PSG from 2018-20, tapped in from Leon Goretzka's assist in the 61st minute and substitute Gnabry struck in the 89th minute to seal the hosts' 3-0 aggregate win after a 1-0 victory in Paris.

The Germans made sure of their last-eight spot after shutting out PSG superstars Lionel Messi and Kylian Mbappe and are one of the title favourites going into the last eight.

“In the first half, we didn't do what we had talked about t before very well,” Bayern coach Julian Nagelsmann said. “There was too much space.

“But we defended better in the second half and were dangerous on the ball. In the end, we deserved to win.”

“If we show maximum hunger with emotion and we couple that with our quality then we can achieve anything.”

PSG's long wait to win Europe's premier club trophy for the first time goes on.

The quarterfinal draw will take place on March 17.