TROUBLE

Mourinho’s men accused of post-match row

include the duo biting each other before replays showed it was only a heated clinch.

“I’m picking up there’s something gone on in the tunnel,” Agnew said.

“That many bodies were there, it was hard to tell with all the pushing and shoving.

“What triggered it off I don’t know? I’ve got a group of very well behaved players so I can assure you it wouldn’t be one of ours.

“What I would say it would have been a reaction because of the spirit they have.”

Mourinho had enflamed matters before the game by suggesting he ‘knew the names’ of the players he claimed had been responsible for the departure of Aitor Karanka, his former Real Madrid assistant who was sacked as Middlesbrough boss last week.

The Portuguese headed down the tunnel at the final whistle without acknowledging his opposite number, though Agnew confirmed the pair had shaken hands in the tunnel afterwards.

“Was this justice for Karanka?” Mourinho said after seeing his side extend their 18-game unbeaten league run to end a 19week stay in sixth by climbing to fifth, two points ahead of Arsenal and Everton.

“I think justice for Karanka is the work he did here, people can never delete that. He took the club from the brink of League One to the Premier League.

“I know what I’m saying, he could have left for a bigger club and yet he stayed then in the end he loses his job.

“Despite all that’s happened, I still think he’ll be unhappy we have won, because he wants this club to stay in the Premier League.”

Middlesbrough’s hopes of achieving that aim look increasingly slim after an 11-game threemonth run without a league win.

They at least ended their