Jose Mourinho explains why he didn’t shake hands with Antonio Conte

Jose Mourinho claimed he tried to shake hands with Antonio Conte after Manchester United’sdefeat to Chelsea, but the Blues boss “disappeared”.

The Red Devils manager was captured on Sky Sports cameras standing near the home dugout when the referee called time on the game.

It appeared he was waiting for Conte to finish shaking hands and hugging his own backroom staff and to then come over to him.

But the Italian, who looked to be getting a little carried away, failed to make eye contact with Mourinho standing near the tunnel.

After around thirty seconds of waiting, the Chelsea boss walked in Mourinho’s direction, but failed to hold out his hand for his opposite number to shake.

Mourinho then shook hands with some of the Chelsea backroom staff before heading to the changing room to go and talk to his players.

Speaking about the incident after the game, and addressing claims he ‘snubbed’ the Chelsea manager, Mourinho said: “He disappeared, I shook the hand of his assistant which is basically the same thing.”

Conte was also asked to comment on the situation, and said: “It’s not important. It’s important to win the game. You have to have the respect on the pitch not outside the pitch.”

He added: “It’s an important victory. When you play against Manchester United it’s always a massive game. We know very well this team is very strong.

“This type of win is important for our confidence. We showed great desire and passion to win this kind of game.

“We can win or lose but our spirit must be this.

“Last season our spirit was in every game – we started this season with a lot of problems. We were up and down. This game showed if we want we can.”