FA accused of mocking Antonio Conte after ‘awarding’ Willian for FA Cup tweet covering Chelsea manager in emojis
The official FA Cup account said Willian deserved an 'award for creativity' after he erased Conte from Chelsea's winners' photo
THE FA have been accused of mocking Antonio Conte by awarding Willian for his social media dig at him after the FA Cup final.
A tweet from the FA Cup's official account on Monday said the Brazilian deserved an "award for creativity" on world emoji day for obliterating ex-boss Conte from Chelsea's winners' photo at Wembley.
Winger Willian, 29, took an Instagram pot shot at Conte by plastering three trophy emojis over the Italian's image.
It prompted a furious backlash from Blues fans who branded the Brazilian "disrespectful" and "disgusting" and demanded he was sold.
Now the FA Cup account, which later deleted the tweet, has received a barrage of stick from supporters for backing Willian over the jibe.
It is not the first time that the FA's social media account has come under fire following their swipe at Harry Kane for his display in Tottenham's semi-final defeat to Manchester United.
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Blasting the account's latest blunder, one fan tweeted: "If Willian was childish enough to create this, you guys should be more sensible to not encourage it."
Another fan added: "How old is the admin? What an idiotic thing to do. Perpetuating the disrespect Willian showed to his then manager. Better is expected."
One fuming supporter said: "Totally disgusting. Willian should answer on this. Not a fine idea to troll your manager who has won the Premier League and FA Cup in two seasons."
In April the official Cup Twitter feed poked fun at Kane, asking Chris Smalling 'what's in your pocket' with a clip of the Manchester United defender replying: "Harry Kane."
Spurs boss Mauricio Pochettino said Kane was "sad" about the message.
The England star, 24, later said: "It was a silly tweet. We all know that.
"I talked to the gaffer and all we said was 'would other countries do that to their players?' Probably not.
"Maybe it's easier nowadays to take the mickey out of England players so if we don't do well in the World Cup, they can say 'We told you so'."