Chelsea absolutely thrashed Manchester United 4-0 in October, and after the game, we saw a bit of a potential tiff between managers.
United Manager Jose Mourinho was captured by TV cameras, which also picked up the sound to a minor degree, speaking in his counterpart, Chelsea boss Antonio Conte’s ear in Italian. The sound, lip-readers, reports in both Italy and England, say that Mourinho took issue with what he saw as over-celebration from the Chelsea leader.
Various reports say that Mourinho said something to the effect of when you did it (excessive celebrating) at 4-0, you humiliated me. Supposedly Conte responded by telling him that he was simply trying to fire up his own fans, who had now gone quiet.
Sky Italia reports that Mourinho told Conte in Italian: “You don’t wind up the crowd at 4-0. You do it at 1-0. It’s humiliating.”
Conte was asked what Mourinho had said to him by a reporter and the Chelsea Manager replied that he would keep that discussion between them. Mourinho likewise would not reveal exactly what was said when he was asked during his own post match press conference.
“You know me. I speak to Conte, I don’t speak to you,” Mourinho said.
“You know that I am not the kind of guy to come here and share with you things that I don’t want to share. It was me and Antonio. It stays with me and him unless he wants to share with you.”
Told about the claims in the Sky Italia report, all he would say is “I have no comment.” Conte defended his celebrations, and he said that he had no regret in showing his emotions.
It’s the return match on Sunday, this time at Old Trafford. Will we see more fireworks between the two men this weekend? Is there any tension between the two bosses?
“I have zero problems [with him],” Blues boss Antonio Conte said in a news conference. “It’s only a sporting competition between him and me. There is a game of football. I want to try and win with my team.
“He wants to try and win with his team. It’s normal [for there] to be a conflict during the game, but only a sporting conflict.”
Mourinho was taunted as “Judas” by the crowd last time, to which he responded with a defiant “Judas is still No. 1” at Stamford Bridge, and then he mentioned that no other manager as won four Premier League titles for the club.
Antonio Conte was asked about these comments as well, but again he wouldn’t take the bait, replying: “Nothing. Nothing.”
“He won a lot with this team, and this club has always showed him great respect for his past. If you remember, I said the same before the last match. Nothing has changed. We have great respect for his history at this club. Nothing has changed.”
On the other side, Mourinho did the same thing, playing down the significance of the match, despite his storied history and painful ending with the opposing club.
“You say that word emotion. For me, it is just a game,” Mourinho said. “One more game. No difference for me, not at all.”
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net and TheBank.News, partnered with FOX Sports Engage Network. and News Now. Banks, a former writer for the Washington Times and NBC Chicago.com, contributes to Chicago Tribune.com, Bold, WGN CLTV and KOZN.
Follow him on Twitter, Instagram, Sound Cloud, LinkedIn and YouTube