London — Tottenham boss Antonio Conte admits he will be "very happy" to see Brentford's Christian Eriksen this weekend after the Dane's brush with death.
Conte signed Eriksen from Tottenham when he was in charge at Inter Milan in 2020 and the playmaker was a key figure in their Serie A title triumph.
Eriksen is now at Brentford having made an incredible comeback since suffering a cardiac arrest while playing for Denmark at the European Championship last year.
The 30-year-old comes up against his former club for the first time on Saturday as Brentford host Tottenham in the Premier League.
"I'm very happy to see him play football again. In June it was terrible, those images were terrible for everybody. We suffered a lot for him and his family," Conte told reporters on Thursday.
"To see him for a game will be a pleasure for me. It's incredible because of what happened not long ago.
"To see him playing again makes me very happy because I know football is life.
"To have this opportunity is great for him and his family because now they come back to have a normal life."
There will be no time for sentiment once the game gets underway, however, with Tottenham desperately needing a win to boost their bid for a top four finish.
Arsenal's 4-2 victory at Chelsea on Wednesday moved them level on points with fourth placed Tottenham, who are ahead of their north London rivals on goal difference.
With six games left, the race to qualify for the Champions League is set to go down to the wire.
"We have to stay in this race until the end," said Conte. "We know very well the difficulty to compete with other teams.
"I don't think Chelsea is in this race. They are in this moment on a different level. They are there because they missed some games but they don't stay in this race.
"We have to fight with Arsenal, they showed yesterday they are in good form, Man Utd, West Ham and Wolverhampton.
"Now we have to fight until the end. The last second of the last game, we will see which will be our place in the table."
AFP