Jose Mourinho accused Antonio Conte of humiliating him during Manchester United’s 4-0 defeat to Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on Sunday.
Goals from Pedro, Gary Cahill, Eden Hazard and N’Golo Kante sealed a comfortable win for Chelsea to make it an unhappy return for Mourinho, who was back at his former club for the first time since being sacked last December.
Conte was animated throughout the entire match and celebrated wildly each of Chelsea’s four goals, and Mourinho wasn’t pleased with the Italian’s conduct on the touchline.
Mourinho accused Conte of disrespect in a heated touchline rant. And the bad blood from Manchester United’s 4-0 loss spilled over into the tunnel after the final whistle as a member of Mourinho’s staff snubbed a handshake from Conte.
On his first return to Stamford Bridge since being sacked last December, the Old Trafford boss watched his side slump to a heavy defeat in front of the fans who used to adore him.
After enjoying an emotional embrace with his former Chelsea captain John Terry, Mourinho’s Manchester United team were swamped by goals from Pedro, Gary Cahill, Eden Hazard and N’Golo Kante.
He was then involved in an unedifying touchline spat with Antonio Conte, who had been urging Chelsea fans to recognise his team’s dominant performance.
After the final whistle, Mourinho went up to Conte and spoke at length in the Chelsea manager’s ear.
And according to Sky Italia, who picked up part of Mourinho’s conversation with Conte, the Portuguese said: It’s just my opinion, but don’t do that at 4-0. You can at 1-0, but at 4-0 it’s humiliation.’
Both managers insisted they wanted to keep the details of the spat private, but refused to deny that Mourinho was angered by Conte’s touchline enthusiasm. And the Chelsea manager insisted he did not regret his antics, despite irking his predecessor.
‘I was a player. I know what the feeling is like (to score). I only told the fans to applaud the team because the team deserved it,’ said Conte.
‘There has always been respect for all, and naturally for Manchester United. Nothing happened. I did something absolutely normal. I didn’t do anything to humiliate Mourinho.
‘I think that, today, it was right to call our fans. In that moment I was listening only to the supporters of Manchester United at 4-0. So I called the fans to give the players a great clap after this kind of performance.
‘The players, after a 4-0 win, deserved a great clap. It’s very normal. We live with emotions. If you want to cut the emotions, we can stay at home and I will change jobs.’
The defeat has left United seventh in the Premier League, while Chelsea are just a point behind leaders Manchester City.
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