Jose Mourinho took his escalating feud with Chelsea manager Antonio Conte to a new level after a win against Derby, saying he will never be “suspended for match fixing”.
The Manchester United boss hit back during his post-match press conference after Conte suggested he was becoming ‘senile’ earlier in the day.
“What never happened to me, and what will never happen to me, is to be suspended for match-fixing, that never happened to me and will never happen.”
Conte was implicated in a match-fixing scandal while being Manager of Siena in Italy seven years ago. He was suspended for 10 months, but later reduced to four months while managing Juventus in 2012.
Conte was also accused of doing nothing to prevent the manipulation of games, a charge of which he was finally acquitted last May in a fast-track trial in Cremona.
The prosecutor had requested a suspended six-month sentence and fine of over £6,000, but the accusations of sporting fraud were ruled to have been baseless.
However, Mourinho believes his remarks on touchline etiquette were taken out of context.
‘I don’t need the Chelsea Manager to say that I made mistakes in the past,’ he said. ‘I will make them in the future. I know that I celebrated goals running 50 metres, that I celebrated goals sliding on my knees, I celebrated by jumping to the crowd.
‘I’m not free of that, especially if we score a winning goal in a specific moment, I’m not free to have an out-of-control reaction but what I was trying to say was I behaved bad a few times and in this moment I control myself much better.”
Familiar foes
Conte reacted to Mourinho – who has managed Chelsea twice, winning three Premier League titles, across two spells at Stamford Bridge.
“There is a person that continues to look here. You understand? He went away, but he continued to look here,” said Conte, who won the title last season with the Blues.
“I am starting to be a bit annoyed. If you want to go to fight with me I am ready. I am improving a bit my English, because this is the real problem for me, otherwise we can go, we can go to fight.
“I’m ready to fight for me, for my players, for the club, with everyone. I have no problem.”
But Mourinho denied that his comments were aimed at Conte.
“I don’t blame the Chelsea Manager at all. I understand his reaction. I was speaking about myself,” he said.
“I was saying I don’t need to behave as a clown to show passion, that I control my emotions in a better way.”
However feuds among Managers in the EPL are familiar occurences and tend to spice up the league. From Arsene Wenger vs. Sir Alex Ferguson, to Mourinho and Benitez and Klopp vs. Guardiola.
