Mourinho asks Conte to apologize for row

Manchester Jan 15 (IANS) Manchester United chief coach Jose Mourinho has asked his Chelsea counterpart Antonio Conte to apologize for calling him a "fake" and a "small man".

Portuguese football tactician Mourinho on Sunday said he did not start the altercation with Italian Conte.

Conte 48 had called Mourinho "senile" responding to a question whether Mourninho referred to him as a clown for his passionate activity at the touchline.

Mourinho hit back by referencing Conte s implication in a match fixing scandal which didn t find Conte guilty. Then Conte dubbed Mourinho as "fake" and a "small man".

"When I start I take the responsibilities of that and I ve started many times. When I don t start it s quite funny for me to see other people on the other side acting like victims when they re not the victims. But really I don t enjoy. That s why for me it s over " 54-year-old Mourinho was quoted as saying by ESPNFC.

"Sometimes it s my fault. Sometimes it s other managers fault. In my case when I think it s my fault and I should behave in a different way I m the first one to apologize like I did with Ranieri when I had the chance.

"That s when our relations went from bad to good and from good to very good because I was man enough to apologize " the Portuguese added.

--IANS
dm/pur/mr