Jose Mourinho congratulated Chelsea for their 1-0 victory over Manchester United in the FA Cup final but thinks he would be criticised for winning in such a defensive manner.
Eden Hazard dazzled during the early stages of the match and the Belgium won and scored a 22nd-minute penalty.
United were better after the break and Paul Pogba missed a glorious opportunity eight minutes from time.
But there was no break through, leaving Mourinho to embrace Conte at the end of the game before talking about a game he viewed as a hard luck story.
“I congratulated them because they won but I do not think they deserved to win,” he told BBC Sport.
“I congratulate them because I am a sportsman. They scored one more goal than us and they get the cup, and I have to do what my job asks me to do. I am Manchester United manager and I have to be respectful.
“I think we deserved to win, we were the best team. But that’s football.
“I’m quite curious to know what people say and people will write because I can imagine if my team played how Chelsea did what people will say.”
Romelu Lukaku declared himself fit only for the bench on his return from an ankle injury and Mourinho felt United missed his presence in attack.
“I gave everything I could, the players gave absolutely everything. It was a bit hard for us to play without Lukaku against a team who defended with nine players,” he said.
“You need that presence in the box and we didn’t have it for a long time
“Every defeat hurts but I go home with the feeling that we gave everything, so no regrets.”
Mourinho added: “We knew that this is the way they normally play, with a little bit more ambition in their counter-attack, but after 1-0 they were really defensive.
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“They are not stupid, they know our team without Lukaku or [Marouane] Fellaini, we don’t have a presence so they knew they could have dominance in direct football.
“Courtois had a couple of saves, we were unlucky with some balls in the box – Paul [Pogba]’s header is one. I am a sportsman, the team that scores one more goal wins and that is why I congratulate them.”
