Controversial Porto boss accuses Mikel Arteta of insulting dead relative to spark full-time clash

Porto manager Sergio Conceicao has alleged Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta insulted a relative of his who “is no longer among us” following Tuesday night’s Champions League clash. The Gunners vehemently deny this claim

Arsenal beat Porto 1-0 on the night, thanks to an effort from Leandro Trossard late in the first half. That meant the scores were level over two legs, after Porto won by the same scoreline at the Dragao in February, but David Raya saved two spot-kicks to send the Premier League side through on penalties.

Following the game, Arteta and Conceicao were seen exchanging words on the pitch. And the Porto boss levelled a serious accusation at his counterpart.

“Mikel Arteta turned to the bench during the game and insulted my family in Spanish,” Conceicao alleged. “At the end, I told him that the person he insulted is no longer among us.

“Let him worry about training his team, which has more than enough quality to play a lot better” he added. Arsenal deny Arteta said any such thing.

Arteta’s team now have a long break before they return to action against Man City on March 31. Before then, they will learn their quarter-final opponents in Europe, with the draw scheduled for Friday.

Tempers had boiled over at times during the 120 minutes of football in North London. Arteta and Conceicao were both shown yellow cards during the game, while both teams saw players go into the book.

It is not the first time Conceicao has accused a rival manager of using insulting language towards him. Former Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel and current Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola have both landed in the bad books of the Portuguese after recent Champions League run-ins.

“He spoke about our country using ugly words,” Conceicao said after Porto’s group stage defeat to City in October 2020. “Guardiola’s attitude was extremely unpleasant.

“The whole Manchester City dugout was because if anybody should have been complaining, it was the Porto bench, because we were extremely hard done by.”

The following April, Porto were eliminated from that season’s tournament by Tuchel’s Chelsea with Conceicao alleging Tuchel told him to “f*** off”.

“I was insulted by this man who is next door,” Conceicao said, referring to Tuchel. “I was telling the referee that the fourth referee heard those insults. That’s all. I don’t know why he reacted the way he did. I didn’t say anything to him during the game.”

Tuchel would later downplay that incident. “It was just a little argument with me and their coach, and everybody was following me suddenly,” he said. “No harm done.”