Mystery of bust-up in tunnel
IT WAS not quite the ‘Battle of the Buffet’ – this time only liquids seemed to be involved.
But Jose Mourinho had water and milk thrown at him, City coach Mikel Arteta suffered a small cut on his forehead, there were heated verbal exchanges and a lot of pushing and shoving during the fracas that followed the Manchester derby on Sunday.
According to eye-witness accounts, it started when Mourinho, clearly sore at seeing his team outplayed and falling 11 points behind in the title race, was on his way to conduct TV interviews in the tunnel area when he decided to put his head round City’s open dressing-room door.
City players were exuberantly celebrating a victory that established a new Premier League record for 14 consecutive wins in a single season and, more importantly, could have a significant bearing on the title race.
The music was on, there was singing and chanting and players posed for pictures with silver confetti, but whether the after-match ‘party’ was over the top depends on who you listen to. United sources say it was; City sources say it was nothing out of the ordinary.
What is not in doubt is that Mourinho had an angry exchange in Portuguese with Ederson, City’s Brazilian goalkeeper whose instinctive double save had denied United an equaliser. That sparked some City players and members of their coaching staff to react.
They converged on the doorway in an attempt to push Mourinho out. Milk – from a pint carton – and water were thrown but Mourinho did not get splattered, although a member of his coaching staff did.
There was some pushing, shoving and jostling but – and both clubs agree on this – no punches were thrown.
A policeman is always stationed outside the referee’s room at Old Trafford and he would have witnessed the incident but there is no suggestion any arrests or criminal charges will be made. The FA have written to both clubs asking for their observations.
Quite how Arteta was left with a cut is unclear. One theory is that the former Everton and Arsenal midfielder, now one of Guardiola’s coaches, was pushed against the door in the rumpus or was possibly hit by one of the missiles.
After the row, Mourinho went into the referees’ room, which is opposite the visitors’ dressing room, then to the tunnel area to do his TV interviews. He then made his way up to the press-conference room to speak to the written media but made no mention of the fracas.
It is understood players from both sides were talking to each other normally later and yesterday both clubs were trying to put a lid on the incident.
Some rancour remains, however. United sources insist City’s celebrations were over the top while City insist nothing would have happened if Mourinho had not antagonised the situation by putting his head into their dressing room.
Referee Michael Oliver did not see the incident and did not include it in his report.
Of course, it is not the first time there has been a tunnel bust-up at Old Trafford. In October 2004, United manager Sir Alex Ferguson was hit by pizza thrown by Arsenal midfielder Cesc Fabregas after a bad-tempered encounter between the sides when United had ended the Gunners’ 49-match unbeaten
run.