Wenger, Mourinho play down incident

Arsene Wenger

Arsene Wenger and Jose Mourinho both made light of their spat on the sideline after the Arsenal manager pushed his Chelsea counterpart during Sunday’s London derby in the Premier League, AFP reports.

An angry Wenger gave Mourinho a push in the chest when the two fronted up to each other during the first half after Wenger ventured into the Chelsea technical area following a hard foul on his star player Alexis Sanchez.

The two managers have a history of trading verbal barbs, but this was the first time it turned physical during a game. Chelsea won 2-0 to consolidate its lead in the standings.

Wenger described the push as just “a little one” after the game and said “what is to regret after that?”

“I wanted to go from A to B and somebody confronted me in between without any sign of welcome,” Wenger said. “B was Sanchez, to see how badly he was injured.”

Mourinho said everyone should just “forget” the incident.

“It becomes heated because this is a big game, big clubs, big rivals, (an) important match for both teams. These conditions make a game of emotions,” Mourinho said. “To be fair, I do so many wrong things in football … but not this time, because this time I was just in my technical area and it was not my problem. Game over. Story over.”

Wenger could face disciplinary action from the English Football Association, and was prepared for criticism in the media.

“Look I trust you that you (journalists) will teach me the entire moral lessons over the next three weeks,” he said. “And I can accept that.”