Thomas Tuchel Explains What Caused His Angry Reaction After Chelsea's Draw With Tottenham

Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel has explained what sparked his angry row with Tottenham boss Antonio Conte.

Tuchel aggressively pulled the arm of his Spurs counterpart after Conte offered him a handshake following Sunday's dramatic 2-2 draw.

Both managers were then shown straight red cards.

The Chelsea boss claims that his reaction was caused by Conte refusing to look him in the eye when he offered out his hand.

"I thought that when you shake hands you look into each other's eyes and Antonio had a different opinion," Tuchel told Sky Sports.

Thomas Tuchel pictured (front) angrily grabbing the hand of Antonio Conte after Chelsea's 2-2 draw with Tottenham

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"It was emotional. He was happy when he equalized. I then got a bit heated but nothing big.

"We both got a red card? That was not necessary but I think a lot of things were not necessary. Another poor decision from the ref today."

Tuchel added: "It's emotional, it's football. We don't need to heat it up. You have emotional coaches on the touchline and that's it.

"If we meet [later], we meet, If not, then not. Come on guys, it's between two competitors and nothing bad happened."

The botched handshake after the game had not been the first time that the two managers had clashed on Sunday.

Both were cautioned by referee Anthony Taylor after squaring up following Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg's goal, which made it 1-1, on 68 minutes.

Tuchel pictured squaring up to Tottenham boss Conte during the game

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Tuchel had been furious that Taylor had not awarded Chelsea a free-kick in the build-up for an apparent foul by Rodrigo Bentancur on Kai Havertz.

There was also a VAR check to see whether Richarlison, who was stood in an offside position when Hojbjerg's shot flew past him, had been interfering with play.

Chelsea, who had earlier taken the lead courtesy of Kalidou Koulibaly, were back in front moments later thanks to Reece James.

But Spurs hit back again after more controversy as Harry Kane headed in from a corner kick in the sixth minute of added time.

The taking of that corner had been delayed as a VAR review considered whether Romero deserved to be sent off for pulling Marc Cucurella's hair.

Had Romero been found guilty, in addition to a red card, Chelsea would have been awarded a free-kick and Tottenham's attack would have been over.

But Romero survived and Spurs scored as soon as play resumed.

Tuchel was adamant in his post-match interview that his side deserved more than a point.

"He were absolutely brilliant," he said.

"Sorry I have to say it, but both [Tottenham] goals absolutely cannot stand and only one team deserved to win and it was us."

On Tottenham's first goal, Tuchel said: "First of all it was a clear foul on Kai Havertz. A clear foul.

"In the game, we made one tactical foul and Reece James got a yellow. I don't know how many tactical fouls Hojbjerg and Bentancur did today but nothing happened [to them].

"It was also a clear offside against Richarlison. He was in the line of the shot and even went towards the ball.

"[The goalkeeper] cannot see the ball. It was checked [by VAR] but it was a clear offside.

"And since when can we pull hair on a football field? Since when is that allowed? And we check it and nothing happened. So we don't need to check anymore. It's ridiculous."