Willian explains his problem with Antonio Conte, regrets his bust-up against former Chelsea boss

Former Blues winger Willian has admitted his regret over a controversial social media post about Antonio Conte in the aftermath of Chelsea’s 2018 FA Cup final triumph.

Brazil winger Willian was handed only one minute off the bench by Conte in the final and clashed with the former Blues boss over a lack of game time towards the end of his two seasons in charge.

Though Chelsea lifted the FA Cup after a 1-0 win over Manchester United, their celebrations were marred as Willian posted a photo of the squad with emojis positioned to obscure Conte.

While Willian is not proud of his actions, he believes Conte struggled with man management and their poor relations inevitably contributed to the Italian’s departure.

“When I saw that picture of the whole team, something happened in my mind,” Willian told the Daily Mail .

“I just don’t know what. I just knew that if he stayed at the club I would have to leave. It wasn’t possible to work with him again.

“So I decided to do the picture. I didn’t expect it to go ‘bang’ everywhere after five minutes. But then everyone in Brazil was talking about it, and in England.

“I was thinking: ‘Why have I done this?’ but by then I couldn’t delete it. It was too late!

“Conte was actually a good coach. We won the title. But the way he managed the team was different. You have to know that I am not the same as Diego [Costa] or David [Luiz] and they are not the same as me.

“Everyone has a different personality. With some you can go strong, others you can’t. He didn’t understand that.