MOURINHO V WENGER...THE WAR OF WORDS

FEBRUARY 2005: After being criticised for not having a single British player in his team in a game against Crystal Palace, Wenger turns the spotlight on Mourinho by saying: “Who have they produced, homegrown? Just one, John Terry.” JULY 2005: Mourinho insists that the fixture list always favours Arsenal. He says: “Some clubs are treated as devils, some are treated as angels. I don’t think we are so ugly that we should be seen as the devil and I don’t think Arsene Wenger and David Dein are so beautiful that they should be viewed as angels.” OCTOBER 2005: Mourinho goes on the offensive after Wenger complains about Chelsea’s spending. “Wenger has a real problem with us and I think he is what you call in England a voyeur,” says the Portuguese. “He is someone who likes to watch other people.” NOVEMBER 2005: Wenger hits back: “I find it out of order, disconnected with reality and disrespectful. When you give success to stupid people, it makes them more stupid sometimes and not more intelligent.” NOVEMBER 2005: Mourinho says: “We have a file of quotes from Mr Wenger about Chelsea in the last 12 months. It is not a file of five pages, it is a file of 120.” NOVEMBER 2010: Referring to claims Mourinho’s Real Madrid are instructing players to get booked so that they can serve bans in dead Champions League ties, Wenger says: “Think ‘never do that again’ because it looks, frankly, horrible.” NOVEMBER 2010: Mourinho retaliates: “Maybe Wenger should explain to Arsenal fans how he cannot win a single little trophy since 2005.”

FEBRUARY 2014: Wenger mocks Mourinho for playing down Chelsea’s chances of winning the Premier League title. Mourinho responds with another barb, saying: “If he is right and I am afraid of failure it is because I didn’t fail many times. Eight years without silverware, that’s failure. He’s a specialist in failure.” NOVEMBER 2016: The war of words turns physical as Wenger pushes Mourinho after a touchline row during his team’s 2-0 defeat at Stamford Bridge. Wenger says: “I shouldn’t have reacted as I did and it is not at all the way I behave on a pitch. I regret the slightest sign of violence and I apologise.” NOVEMBER 2016: Mourinho refuses to accept Wenger’s apology. He says: “He can speak about referees, push people in the technical areas, can cry in the morning and afternoon, nothing happens.” SEPTEMBER 2017: After Wenger criticises Mourinho for taking jobs on a short-term basis, the now Manchester United boss says: “I prepare clubs for success. You can be there 10 or 20 years and, when you leave the club, it’s ready for failure.”