The Portuguese manager reportedly refused the handshake because he believed that Mark Hughes had sworn at him.
At the end of the game at the Bet365 Stadium, Mourinho shook hands with some of the Stoke staff but not their manager. Directly after the match, the United boss refused to explain whether or not he had snubbed the handshake but Hughes was adamant that he did.
However, it is understood that Mourinho thought that Hughes had told him to "f*** off" when moving near him on the touchline during the match. Mourinho also believes his counterpart told the referee, Neil Swarbrick, to send him to the stands for encroaching into the Stoke technical area.
After the game, Hughes said: “I pushed him because he was in my technical area. Maybe that is why he didn’t want to shake my hand. It has to be viewed as a negative result for him. Sometimes managers of top-six clubs don’t take negative results too kindly. Maybe he reacted in the wrong way.”
Mourinho was clearly irritated when asked about the incident: “I don’t speak about stupid things, I’m too old for that, talking about stupid things is for stupid people,” the Portuguese said. “I prefer not to answer the question because your question is a bad question. Because it looks like is my fault, is my problem. And your question is not correct, I am sorry.”
Neither manager is stranger to touchline controversy, with Hughes previously being involved in similar handshake arguments with Tony Pulis, Roberto Mancini and Arsene Wenger, whilst Mourinho has had trouble on the touchline at most of the clubs he has managed.