Porto coach Sergio Conceicao accused Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta of insulting his family during Arsenal’s shootout win over the Portuguese side that booked their place in the Champions League quarterfinals for the first time since 2010.
Asked to elaborate on what had happened, Conceicao said through a UEFA interpreter: “During the game and towards the bench he, in Spanish, I don’t know if this is to do with Spanish managers, he insulted my family.
“And then at the end, I said attention, who he insults is not between us, he should focus on training his team because they have a lot of individual qualities to do that.”
Sources at Arsenal have told ESPN that Arteta strongly denied the accusation.
The Gunners edged the fiery contest 4-2 on penalties after Leandro Trossard’s 41st-minute strike levelled the round-of-16 tie at 1-1 on aggregate and forced extra time.
Wendell and Galeno had their spot kicks saved by David Raya to spark jubilant scenes at full time, but the two managers, who had been booked in separate incidents during the game, clashed again at the final whistle.
After the match, though, Arsenal and Arteta were keen to focus on a historic night when they finally ended a run of seven consecutive defeats at this stage of the competition.
“For [the team] to do it when the club hasn’t managed to do it for 14 years, I tell you it will be a boost,” said Arteta. “The margins are so small. You find a way to do it again. 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.
“Now I’m going to sit at home, I’m going to look at the other teams we have to play and start another big mountain to climb.”
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