Mourinho v Conte: an unseemly spat that reflects very badly on both managers

In bringing up the match-fixing case, which Conte was cleared from, Mourinho struck the rawest of nerves but there is no halo above the Italian either and both managers are being poor ambassadors for their clubs

Antonio Conte had spent his afternoon supervising an unsatisfactory goalless draw with Norwich City, but the frustration of watching Chelsea’s squad players labour bore little comparison to the other feelings dammed up inside. An hour after the final whistle he let it all out in the Carrow Road press room and, by the time he had finished, nobody among the cluster of agog onlookers could doubt the force of his animosity towards José Mourinho. When he finally took his leave after labelling Mourinho a “little man” and a “fake”, the question hanging in the air was how much further such an extraordinary set-to can possibly run from here, a long-simmering feud having exploded with barely precedented venom from relatively innocuous beginnings.

Few would have expected Conte to ignore Mourinho’s barb, not directed by name but clearly aimed at his counterpart, at the ban he received for allegedly failing to report match fixing while working in Italy. A gust of discontent seemed more likely, though, than the storm he eventually unleashed. Post-match press conferences are rarely the best arena for squabbles to play out into something more: if things get too animated there is usually a team bus to board, a waiting plane to catch, a press officer at hand to cut awkward follow-up questions short. This time Conte whetted the appetite with his comments to broadcast media and then, with the Chelsea director of communications Steve Atkins standing to his right throughout, aired his grievances in full, uninterrupted flow to those seated opposite.

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