Antonio Conte blew his top post-match in an interview with Italian broadcaster Sky Sport Italia after he watched his side throw away a 2-0 lead to lose 3-2 away to Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League.

“I think today was worse than what happened in Barcelona because we were ahead by two goals. They tell me to smile when I go on TV and that I should always talk about the same things, about growth and that it is better to show up smiling,” he began.

“I can’t comment on the second half, there would be too many extenuating circumstances, too many excuses to pull out and I don’t want to do that.

“I hope that this type of game makes it clear to those who must understand some things. We work and I thank the boys for what they are giving. We always have the same arguments, we regret the defeat, we will make a reason for it and we will go on.

“We cannot do anything other than work, which we are already doing. I am annoyed at saying the same things. I hope some of the management will come to say something. At the beginning we made a plan but we could have planned things much better. We have to work, move forward and try to improve because we show that with work we can put anyone in difficulty.

“Important errors have been made. There will be a reason for this and we must find it in the locker room but there are extenuating circumstances for the players some of whom have played all of the last six matches. We are Inter, so we must all look at ourselves and realise we are… actually, I was going to cause controversy again, but no, stop me talking now. I am really pissed off, because we cannot do more than this. We’ve reached the limit.”

He concluded: “Against Sassuolo the same thing happened but the difference is that against Borussia Dortmund we lost…I think it was nerves. We must continue to work with our heads down.”