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Evening Standard
Evening Standard
Sport
Alex Young

Willian explains infamous Antonio Conte trophy emoji post after Chelsea’s FA Cup win

Arsenal winger Willian has explained his controversial Instagram post which hid then-Chelsea manager during FA Cup celebrations.

The Brazilian played just one minute as the Blues beat Manchester United at Wembley, the culmination of a season which he deemed frustrating amid a perceived lack of game time under Conte.

Willian reacted by posting a picture of Chelsea's trophy celebrations, but covered Conte up with trophy emojis. The post went viral and the Brazilian admits regret over his actions.

"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!"

Instagram/Willian

Conte left a few months after the Wembley triumph and Willian has since explained that it would have been him to leave should the manager have stuck around.

He added: "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.

"It was hard for me as I would play well, score a goal and then be on the bench. I would come on, make an assist and then be back on the bench. That was hard. In the end one of us was always going to go."

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