Conte accuses Mourinho of applying ‘anti-football’ in FA Cup clash

Antonio Conte has expressed his frustration at the style Manchester United played with in the FA Cup quarter-final clash, despite Chelsea achieving victory over their rivals.

Chelsea won courtesy of a long-range effort by man-of-the-match N’Golo Kante and looked hugely impressive throughout the night, but Conte was left angered by some of his players being singled out for tackles.

“For Hazard, for 20-25 minutes it was impossible to play football, because he received only kicks.” Conte said. “A tactic to play and go to kick an opponent? It’s not football for me.

“I don’t think I’m crazy and I see only him in this situation. Sometimes when you play against players with great talent, you try to intimidate those players. The referee must protect those type of players. When they go out with bad injury…

“It’s very dangerous to receive a kick from the back.”

Jose Mourinho was left fuming after Andres Herrera received a second booking 10 minutes from the half-time whistle because of a foul on Eden Hazard. The Portuguese manager refused to comment directly on the referee’s performances but was visible unhappy with a few decisions.

He said: “Everybody can analyse from different perspectives but we all watch the match until the red card and after the red card. So we can compare the decisions of the two yellow cards, in this case with others which were not given.”