What Mourinho whispered to Conte
LONDON: Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho told his Chelsea counterpart Antonio Conte that his antics in whipping up the crowd during the London club’s 4-0 victory on Sunday were “humiliating”, according to Italian television.
The Portuguese went straight to Conte at the final whistle and spent several seconds talking into his ear.
Neither manager would reveal the contents of the conversation but Sky Italia said Mourinho told Conte in Italian: “You don’t celebrate like that at 4-0. You can do it at 1-0, otherwise it’s humiliating for us.”
Conte gestured to the crowd to turn up the noise levels after N’Golo Kante scored Chelsea’s fourth goal.
British media reported that the ill-feeling spilled into the tunnel where a member of Mourinho’s staff refused a handshake from Conte, and others were involved in verbal disputes.
Chelsea’s manager denied that he had been trying to humiliate United.
“There has always been respect for all, and naturally for Manchester United,” said Conte. “Nothing happened. I did something absolutely normal. I didn’t do anything to humiliate Mourinho.
“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.”
Meanwhile, Former United full-backs Gary and Phil Neville have slammed the club’s “garbage” defending after Sunday’s defeat.
They also ripped into United’s high-priced midfield, which included £89 million signing Paul Pogba, after Kante was able to waltz through them.
Mourinho blamed “incredible defensive mistakes” for the humiliating defeat on his return to the Bridge, where he won three Premier League titles in two stints in charge.
“For the fourth goal, (Ander) Herrera and Paul Pogba there, I think it’s absolutely scandalous,” Phil Neville said.
Gary said: “They are like mannequins in those red shirts. He (Kante) has walked through £130m of midfield. It’s absolutely garbage defending.”
In addition to a porous defence and trampled-over midfield, target man Zlatan Ibrahimovic looked off the pace, leaving 18-year-old Marcus Rashford to do too much work.
Mourinho, who also guided Inter Milan to the treble in 2010 and won the 2012 Spanish league title with Real Madrid, apologised to United fans after the rout and dismissed any suggestion he still had a soft spot for his former club.
“The millions of fans that we have around the world, they are obviously with a very bad feeling. I have to apologise for that as the leader of this dressingroom, and the only thing I can say is that I am Man United 100 percent.” – Reuters