Arsenal respond after Porto manager accuses Mikel Arteta of 'insulting' his family

Arsenal respond after Porto manager accuses Mikel Arteta of 'insulting' his family

WATCH NOW: GB News' Paul Coyte talks Champions League after Arsenal's win over Porto

Lewis Winter

By Lewis Winter


Published: 13/03/2024

- 07:37

Updated: 13/03/2024

- 11:30

The Gunners made it through in the Champions League in dramatic style

Arsenal have responded after Porto boss Sergio Conceicao accused Mikel Arteta of 'insulting' his family during Tuesday's Champions League tie.

The Gunners, who made it through via a penalty shootout, 'strongly deny' that Arteta made the offensive remark in question.


Arsenal trailed 1-0 following the first leg in Lisbon last month and levelled the tie up four minutes before half-time through Leandro Trossard.

Porto were resilient and limited the hosts' chances, with the match ending 1-1 on aggregate after extra-time.

Sergio Conceicao and Mikel Arteta

Arsenal news: The Gunners have responded after Sergio Conceicao said Mikel Arteta insulted his family

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David Raya was the hero for Arsenal, saving two penalties, while the Gunners were faultless in a 4-2 shootout win.

Conceicao appeared to be angry at Arteta in a heated exchange in the immediate aftermath on the pitch.

The Portuguese coach then took to his press conference to complain about his Spanish counterpart.

Conceicao said: "The result was injust. Our team deserved to go through.

"What Arteta said, towards the bench in Spanish, he insulted my family. He should focus on training his team."

But Arsenal issued a quick response, with club sources telling ESPN that Arteta strongly denies the accusations against him.

Asked about the exchange with Conceicao, Arteta said: "No comment. Thank you very much."

The north Londoners are now through to the quarter-final of Europe's elite club competition for the first time in 14 years.

It is the first season Arteta has managed in the Champions League and he hailed Raya for his two saves from Brazilian duo Wendell and Galeno.

Arteta said: "Magic, what we expected, a really tough opponent, really well organised, very difficult to generate constant momentum in the game in the way they play and that’s credit to them.

"We did it, we scored a beautiful goal, they insisted in different ways, in the way the game allowed as well, and it’s such a huge experience for us.

"We had to do it at the end with the penalties, we prepared well, and credit to the coaches as well for the way they did it and obviously for David [Raya].

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Sergio Conceicao

Arsenal news: Sergio Conceicao was not happy with Mikel Arteta after Porto were knocked out

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"He had some difficult moments to start but he stood up, had an incredible personality and ambition, and at the end he got rewarded with his moment."

Arsenal will be in Friday's quarter-final draw on Friday morning with the prospect of facing title rivals Manchester City.

Arteta insists his players have made a 'big step' as they aim to end their four-year wait for a trophy.

He added: "For them to do it when the club hasn’t managed to do it for 14 years, it tells you the difficulty of it.

Mikel Arteta and David Raya

Arsenal news: David Raya was the hero for the Gunners in the Champions League

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"When the margins are so small, we found a way to do it again.

"I see how much they want it, and how much they try, they are able to sacrifice anything to win and when you play like this at the end it’s going to come your way sooner or later and it happened tonight.

"It’s another big step, especially as a club. The last seven years we haven’t been in this competition, the last 14 we haven’t been where we are today.

"That’s the difficulty of it, the best thing is we are not satisfied, we want more and we are going to try to go through the next round for sure."

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