Jose Mourinho Steps Up Press Offensive Against Antonio Conte as Stamford Bridge Showdown Looms

Jose Mourinho has stepped up his media barrage of Chelsea manager Antonio Conte, continuing his digs at the Italian's talk of injury worries at Stamford Bridge.

The pair face off in west London on Sunday and speaking in his pre-match press conference, Mourinho insisted that he was never one to bring up injury concerns for players like Paul Pogba. 

"I know that I moan about a lot of things but I don’t with injuries," he said. "Probably I should cry every week about our injuries. Any other manager would be speaking about Pogba every day. 

"'Oh I don’t have Pogba, oh when (do) I have Pogba, oh all the Champions League group phase without Pogba, oh all the big matches against Liverpool, Chelsea, Spurs without Pogba'. I don’t speak about Pogba one single time, it’s only when you ask me about his situation."

For his part, Conte tried to deflect attention away from the growing feud between the pair - saying: "It’s very difficult to speak about friendship with other coaches because then they become an opponent. I have respect for his job. He must have respect for my job."

He continued: "The way I suffer after a defeat is not for all, because I suffer, I suffer," he said. "Those who knows me very well know I don’t like to lose, that I need a bit of time to digest this loss. But then, those who know me know that, after this, I start stronger, with more hunger, more desire.

"I try also to transfer my suffering to my players. In this moment, you can see if you are winners or losers. This is very important, this moment. If we are happy after a defeat, it means we are not so clear to understand and to suffer. It’s right to suffer."