Tottenham Hotspur assistant manager Cristian Stellini has issued an apology to the club's supporters following their dismal 1-0 FA Cup fifth-round loss to Sheffield United at Bramall Lane, but he had "no regrets" over starting Harry Kane on the bench.
England's oldest cup competition arguably represented Spurs' best chance at ending their 15-year run without silverware, but the much-changed Lilywhites were stunned by their Championship counterparts.
A sublime 79th-minute winner from Iliman Ndiaye settled the contest in the Blades' favour, but Kane spurned a golden chance to level matters for his side near the end of the contest.
Now only fighting for success in the Premier League and Champions League this season, Tottenham are at risk of prolonging their trophy drought as they attempt to overturn a 1-0 deficit against AC Milan in the last-16 of the latter competition.
Speaking to the press after the game, Stellini apologised to Tottenham fans for Wednesday's wasted opportunity, saying: "I think we missed a big opportunity and we have to apologise to the fans. Today there were 5,000 of them here to watch our performance and we apologise because we missed a big opportunity."
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With Antonio Conte still watching on from home following gallbladder surgery, Stellini oversaw six changes to the Tottenham lineup, with Kane, Dejan Kulusevski and Cristian Romero all on the bench.
Richarlison, Son Heung-min and Lucas Moura provided little threat in the final third, though, and Kane was brought on for the former with 25 minutes remaining to try to salvage a result.
In the fourth minute of second-half injury time, Kane rose highest to connect with Ivan Perisic's cross into the middle, but he fluffed his lines and sent a header harmlessly wide of the target.
Nevertheless, Stellini defended the decision to drop Kane - who has been struggling with illnesses in recent weeks - from the starting lineup, adding: "It is not a regret.
"We need to look in the medium period, we have many games. Harry Kane played in the last six games, one time with fever, one time with a problem, we have to take care of our best player.
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"It's not about Harry because we played with Richarlison, Lucas Moura and Sonny. I think it is good enough to play in this competition and against this sort of team.
"He was ill one week ago and he didn't train on some days because he was very ill. After he played a game with a fever he was very ill, so he didn't. It was a throat problem.
"For that reason we decided to keep him on the bench and maybe play a part of the match. A player like this also needs to work not only to play. I think the team we chose to play the game was fine.
"We used a good team to play this game against this type of opponent. The problem was the energy. When the energy is not at the same level as your opponent sometimes you can lose."
While Spurs were busy in FA Cup action, Liverpool - who have a game in hand - closed the gap on them in the Premier League table to six points by beating Wolverhampton Wanderers, who now prepare to welcome fourth-placed Tottenham to Molineux on Saturday.
Ben Knapton
