‘He insulted my family’
Arsenal sources have denied accusations that Mikel Arteta insulted Porto manager Sergio Conceicao’s family following their Champions League victory.
Conceicao and Arteta were involved in a post-match altercation after the Gunners won the game via penalty shoot-out to reach the quarter-finals of the competition for the first time in 14 years.
In an interview after the game, the Porto boss claimed that the Spaniard has 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.”
Arsenal sources have strongly denied any offensive or insulting sentence towards the Porto manager and Arteta has refuted the allegations.
“No comment. Thanks very much”, was the reply from the Gunners boss when asked about Conceicao’s accusation.
Entering the game 1-0 down on aggregate, a goal from Leandro Trossard levelled things up just before halftime, but neither side were able to break the stalemate in normal time.
Extra time was a nervy affair and it took heroics from David Raya to secure Arsenal’s place in the next round as he saved two spot kicks to ensure his side’s victory.
“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.”
“For [the players] to do it when the club hasn’t done it for 14 years, I tell you it will be a boost,” added Arteta. “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.”
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