Did Mikel Arteta Really Insult FC Porto’s Coach?
March 13, 2024
Manager Sergio Conceicao of FC Porto has accused manager Mikel Arteta of Arsenal of abusing his family. This is following their intensely contested second leg match on March 12 in the UEFA Champions League Round of 16.
For the first time since 2010, Arsenal defeated Porto to advance to the quarterfinals. And following the game ending, Conceicao and Arteta were spotted fighting angrily.
After that, the Porto manager would accuse the Spaniard of insulting his family in remarks made to the press. Then Conceicao would remark that Mikel Arteta ought to be spending his time training his team.
“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.”
ESPN later reported that Arteta has refuted the allegations put forth by his Porto rival. Conceicao has previously leveled similar allegations. After Porto was defeated by Chelsea in 2021, the Porto manager accused Thomas Tuchel of making fun of him. He also did the same with Pep Guardiola in 2019.
PENALTY SHOOTOUT
Arsenal’s Champions League campaign saw an exciting chapter come to an end when they played Porto. They won a nail-biting penalty shootout and advanced to the quarterfinals for the first time since 2010.
After Arsenal lost the first leg 1-0 in Portugal and Galeno scored a late victory, the tie was in a precarious position. But Martin Odegaard’s exquisite set-up for Leandro Trossard’s goal in the second leg at the Emirates Stadium leveled the aggregate score.
After a 1-1 aggregate draw, penalties were used to continue the game. David Raya proved to be the hero, saving two penalties while Declan Rice, Martin Odegaard, Kai Havertz, and Bukayo Saka all made confident shots to seal a 4-2 shootout victory.