Mikel Arteta offers response after Arsenal boss is accused of ‘insulting’ Porto manager’s ‘family’
Mikel Arteta has responded after Porto manager Sergio Conceicao accused the Arsenal head coach of “insulting” his family at the Emirates on Tuesday night.
The Gunners headed into their Champions League round of 16 second leg against Porto behind on aggregate after being beaten 1-0 in Portugal last month.
“He insulted my family…”
Leandro Trossard’s goal saw Arsenal win the second leg 1-0 to take the tie into extra-time and the hosts ended up winning 4-2 on penalties to book their place in the quarter-finals of the Champions League for the first time since 2010.
Arteta was booked in the second-half after reacting furiously to Martin Odegaard’s goal being disallowed by VAR and the Spanish head coach was later involved in a heated row with Porto boss Conceicao, who claimed the Arsenal man “insulted his family”.
“During the game, (Arteta) turned to the bench and in Spanish – it must be a Spanish coach thing because it was the same thing with (Pep) Guardiola – he insulted my family,” he said.
“In the end, I told him to pay attention because who he insulted is no longer with us, and to worry about coaching his team, because due to individual quality, he has an obligation to do more and better.”
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Before Conceicao’s comments emerged, Arteta was asked about the clash with Conceicao after the final whistle. He said: “No comment. Thank you very much.”
“A magic night…”
Speaking post-match, Arteta insisted this result would “boost” his players and he praised David Raya – who saved two penalties – for showing “incredible determination”.
“A magic night,” said Arteta. “We expected a really tough opponent. It’s very difficult to generate momentum and that’s credit to them.
“It’s a huge experience for us. We had to do it as well through penalties. Credit to David who had some difficult moments to start but showed incredible determination and stood up and got rewarded.”
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He continued: “For (the players) to do it when the club hasn’t done it for 14 years, I tell you it will be a boost. The margins are so small.
“I see how much they want it, how much they try and they are able to sacrifice anything to win. When you play like this at the end good things are going to come your way.
“It’s another big step (in the season), especially as a club. For seven years we haven’t been in this competition and for 14 years we haven’t got this far. That tells you the difficulty of it. We want more and we’re going to go for it that’s for sure.
“It’s the first time that I’ve done it in the Champions League. I try to learn every day, get advice and that’s why you have good people around you, great coaches around you as well to help you and make you better.”
