Jose Mourinho and Antonio Conte feud was blown out of proportion, admits Angelo Alessio
Antonio Conte's former assistant Angelo Alessio believes that Jose Mourinho and the Inter Milan boss' feud during their time in the Premier League was blown out of proportion. The two managers clashed heads when Mourinho was in charge of Manchester United and Conte was the Chelsea head coach.
Both Antonio Conte and Jose Mourinho have one thing in common and that's their past at Chelsea with both managers leading the Blues to Premier League titles during their time in London. But while Mourinho has led Chelsea to three league titles, a League Cup, an FA Cup and a few others whereas Antonio Conte managed a Premier League title in his inaugural season followed by an FA Cup in his second season before he left the club.
However, the duo have clashed heads though when Mourinho was in charge of Manchester United with the Portuguese manager unhappy and had an angry reaction to Conte’s celebrations during a meeting at Stamford Bridge. Things became so heated that in a post match conference, Mourinho branded Conte as a “little man”. Although it's a healthy competition between two managers who are born winners, Conte’s assistant Angelo Alessio insists talk of tension between the pair has been severely "blown out of proportion".
"They are a bit similar. They have strong characters and maybe that can be one of the reasons why they clashed. I remember we beat Manchester United in 2018 and Mourinho was upset due to Antonio’s celebration. They continued to taunt each other for some time after that. Sometimes things get blown out of proportion. There were not pleasant words between them, but it all began with a misunderstanding," Alessio said reported by Goal.
“That time, Mourinho was annoyed with Conte’s celebration, but that’s what Antonio always does. Everyone knows that, it was a regular celebration for him. They are smart people, so in the end, they cleared the air. Now they respect each other and I am sure we’ll see that when they meet next season."