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Let’s start at the end. Antonio Conte, a couple of minutes after concluding the second-half triptych of escalating goal celebrations with a wildly violent dance, walked toward Thomas Tuchel and shook his hand. But he did so, Tuchel said, without looking him in the eye and so the Chelsea manager did not release his hand, jerking Conte back to face him. As both held on, at this point furiously eyeballing each other, Tuchel raised two fingers to his own eyes, indicating his objection. Both managers had already been booked, and, as players and coaching staff waded in, both were given red cards.
By the time both spoke to the media, both had calmed down. Both seemed to have enjoyed it—although Conte’s celebrations were perhaps tinged by a sense that he still has a point to prove to Chelsea given the circumstance of his departure from Stamford Bridge in 2018. There were no jibes about respect or anything else. Both, in fact, seemed to have relished the competitiveness of a thoroughly entertaining afternoon.
