Porto coach Sergio Conceicao accused Arsenal counterpart Mikel Arteta of insulting his family during Tuesday’s Champions League game between the teams, continuing a trend of lashing out at the opposing manager after a loss.
Arsenal beat Porto on penalties at the Emirates Stadium after a 1-1 draw on aggregate to advance to the quarterfinals, and the two managers had a lengthy exchange after the game in which Conceicao seemed to admonish Arteta, pointing his finger at the Spaniard as he made his point. Arteta responded by shaking his head as he walked away.
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“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,” Conceicao said in Portuguese after the game. “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.”
Arteta spent three seasons as an assistant to Guardiola at Manchester City before taking over as Arsenal manager in 2019. When asked about the exchange with Conceicao in his post-game news conference, Arteta only said “no comment” before leaving the podium.
Conceicao has made similar claims about other managers.
After a group-stage loss to Manchester City in 2020, he said Guardiola “spoke about our country using ugly words” and that “Guardiola’s attitude was extremely unpleasant.”
After Porto lost to Chelsea in the 2021 Champions League quarterfinals, Conceicao also said then-Blues coach Thomas Tuchel “insulted” him during the game.
Reporting by The Associated Press.
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