What did Mikel Arteta say? Arsenal boss accused of insulting dead relative by Porto head coach

Arsenal’s Champions League victory overshadowed amid claims made by Sergio Conceicao

Arsenal's Mikel Arteta was involved in an altercation with Porto's Sergio Conceicao after the Champions League tie at the Emirates. (Photo by David Price/Arsenal FC via Getty Images)

Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta was involved in a heated exchange with Porto boss Sergio Conceicao on the pitch following their Champions League last 16 tie at the Emirates on Tuesday night.

David Raya was the Arsenal hero as the Spanish goalkeeper saved two penalties to help the Gunners to a 4-2 win in the shoot-out to reach their first Champions League quarter-final in 14 years. It came after Leandro Trossard’s first-half strike had cancelled out a first-leg deficit.

However, the victory was overshadowed by a fiery altercation between Arteta and Porto counterpart Sergio Conceicao at the end of the game. Conceicao refused to shake hands with Arteta and was seen gesturing angrily at the Arsenal head coach. Afterwards, he gave a terse explanation of what was said.

“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 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 refused to speak on the incident when broached by reporters during his post-mach press conference insisting “absolutely nothing" happened between him and Conceicao, adding “no comment” when pressed further before exiting the room.

However, according to the Daily Telegraph, the Spaniard has strongly denied the accusation after being informed of the details behind Conceicao’s claim that he had insulted one of his dead relatives.

As Conceicao himself hinted with his reference to Guardiola, it is not the first he has had a run-in with an English Premier League coach. Conceicao said after Porto's defeat to Manchester City in October 2020: "He spoke about our country using ugly words," in regards to Guardiola. "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."