Conte calls out Manchester United, Mourinho for intimidation tactics

London - Antonio Conte slammed Manchester United's cynical attempts to intimidate Chelsea in his side's bitter FA Cup quarter-final win, but Jose Mourinho hit back at his rival by insisting he remains the Blues' best ever manager.

While the Chelsea crowd taunted Mourinho as a "Judas," Chelsea boss Conte was furious with United's no-holds barred approach.

Ander Herrera was sent off for two fouls on Eden Hazard in Monday's 1-0 victory and Marcos Rojo escaped a red card for a spiteful second half stamp on Hazard. The United defender is likely to face a ban if the Football Association retrospectively look at the offence.

Video of the stamp erupted on social media as did images of Conte embroiled in a touchline row with United boss Mourinho that ended with the rivals being separated by the fourth official.

Asked what he made of United's tactics, Conte said: "My players want to play football, but for 25 minutes it was impossible.

"I think only that Eden got a lot of kicks. I don't think I'm crazy.

"He started the match receiving kicks and he finished it receiving kicks.

"This is the truth and I don't think one person can say this didn't happen. It's not football for me.

"It could be United's tactic. Sometimes when you play against players with great talent you try to intimidate them.

"The referee must try to protect these type of players because they can go out with a bad injury."

Although Conte and Mourinho didn't shake hands at full-time, the Italian insisted he had done nothing wrong in their touchline clash.

"It was hard work for the fourth official but I controlled my emotion very well today," Conte said.

"It's normal for the manager to push his players. What happens outside the pitch is just a circus."

Conte saluted Hazard for refusing to be intimidated by United's bullying as N'Golo Kante's superb second-half winner gave the Premier League leader a Wembley semi-final showdown with London rival Tottenham next month.

"For sure, he showed strong character. After the first 25 minutes, every player would have a fear of being kicked. It's very dangerous to receive a kick from the back," he said.

Inevitably, Mourinho refused to accept blame for his team's approach and turned the focus on referee Michael Oliver's decision to send off Herrera for what was one of the less vicious tackles on Hazard.

"Herrera's second yellow card, compare that with (Marcus) Rashford going to attack the ball in a counter-attacking situation. He was fouled and the referee doesn't give a booking," Mourinho said.

"We all saw the game. We can all agree there was one match until Herrera saw the red card and another after that.

"I thought we were going to win because everything was under control, then with 10 men it was very difficult for us."