Arsenal respond to Porto manager's claims Mikel Arteta insulted his family

Arsenal have denied claims from Porto head coach Sergio Conceicao that Mikel Arteta insulted his family during Tuesday night's Champions League clash.

The Gunners advanced to the quarter-finals of the Champions League for the first time since 2010 after prevailing on penalties. Leandro Trossard grabbed the only goal across 120 minutes of action at the Emirates Stadium to level the aggregate score at 1-1 before David Raya produced two huge saves in the shootout to send Arsenal through.

A feisty and ill-tempered affair was not without controversy, however. Arteta and Conceicao have been at odds since the first leg in which both managers claimed the other side didn't try to win and tensions between the two spilled over post-match on the pitch. Kai Havertz also pushed Conceicao towards the end of extra-time.

Speaking to the press post-match, Conceicao insisted Arteta had taken aim at his family, claiming: "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."

Arteta spoke to the media before Conceicao did and refused to comment on their altercation at the time, but multiple outlets report Arsenal have denied these accusations.

This is not the first time Conceicao has found himself at odds with a high-profile manager following a Champions League tie. In 2020, he hit out at Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola for his conduct on the touchline, while he claimed Thomas Tuchel insulted him while head coach of Chelsea in 2021. Porto did not win on any of the occasions that Conceicao made such accusations.

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