Porto manager Sergio Conceicao accused Arsenal’s Mikel Arteta of disrespecting his family after Tuesday’s Champions League match, continuing a trend of lashing out at the opposition manager following a defeat.
Arsenal advanced to the quarterfinals after defeating Porto on penalties at the Emirates Stadium, and the two managers had a lengthy postgame argument in which Conceicao appeared to admonish Arteta, pointing his finger at the Spaniard as he made his point. Arteta answered by shaking his head and walking away.
After the match, Conceicao said in Portuguese, “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 further added, “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.”
When questioned about the argument with Conceicao during his post-game press conference, Arteta just replied “no comment” before exiting the podium.
Conceicao has made similar charges against other managers. Following a group-stage defeat to Manchester City in 2020, he said Guardiola “spoke about our country using ugly words” and that “Guardiola’s attitude was extremely unpleasant.”
