Vicente Del Bosque backs Jose Mourinho over Antonio Conte spat

Vicente Del Bosque has stepped into the row between Antonio Conte and Jose Mourinho over the Chelsea manager's actions during their 4-0 victory over Manchester United on Sunday (23 October).

Del Bosque, who won both the World Cup and Euro 2012 as Spain manager, believes Mourinho was right to be upset with the Blues boss, saying he also suffered the same humiliation when Italy knocked Spain out of Euro 2016 in the summer.

Conte whipped up the Chelsea fans to show more support for the side after N'Golo Kante heaped more misery on Mourinho's team by scoring the fourth goal of the game.

The United boss confronted his rival after the final whistle and, speaking into Conte's ear, reportedly accused the Chelsea manager of trying to humiliate him in front of his former fans. According to Sky Italia, Mourinho said: "It's just my opinion, but don't do that at 4-0. You can at 1-0, but at 4-0 it's humiliation."

Conte has since defended his actions, saying it was never his intention to disrespect Mourinho.

But Del Bosque backed Mourinho, despite having a tense relationship with the Portuguese while he was the Spanish manager. He pointed to Conte's behaviour during Italy's 2-0 win over Spain in the Euro 2016 clash, which turned out to be Del Bosque's last game of his eight-year stint as Spain manager.

"I don't think Mourinho was wrong," Del Bosque said to Cadena Ser. "I think Conte has to be more moderate in the celebration of his triumphs. (His celebrations) also hurt me when we played against Italy.

"I do not say that he [should] not express joy. It's not necessary to be as dull as me, but he can express a moderate joy. I am not a defender of Mourinho but he had a point there. (Conte) has to be more moderated because there is a rival in the other side."