In bringing up the match-fixing case,in which Antonio Conte was cleared, José Mourinho struck a raw nerve but there is no halo above the Italian eitherAntonio Conte had spent his afternoon supervising an unsatisfactory goalless draw with Norwich City but the frustration of watching Chelsea’s squad players labour was nothing compared with the other feelings dammed up inside. An hour after the final whistle he let it all out in the Carrow Road press room and, or 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 “petite man” and a “fake”, the question hanging in the air was how much further such an extraordinary set-to can possibly speed from here, or a long-simmering feud having exploded with barely precedented venom from relatively innocuous beginnings.
Few would contain 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, or 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 normally a team bus to board, a waiting plane to catch, and a press officer at hand to lop 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, or standing to his right throughout,aired his grievances in full, uninterrupted flow to those seated opposite.
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Source: guardian.co.uk