Arsenal dismiss 'family insult' claims by Porto manager Sergio Conceicao

CLAIMS: An animated Porto coach Sergio Conceicao during the Champions League last 16 second leg

Porto manager Sergio Conceicao accused Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta of insulting his family in Spanish as Champions League tensions at the Emirates Stadium spilled into the post-match press conferences.

Conceicao clashed with Arteta on the pitch at the end of the match, and was seen jabbing his finger in the Arsenal manager’s face. In his press conference later, he claimed that Arteta had insulted him in Spanish during the game.

Arteta did not wish to comment on the argument with the Porto manager, but club sources night say he strongly denied the accusation after being informed of Conceicao’s claim.

 “This result was unjust,” said Conceicao. “We deserved to go through. What Arteta said, towards the bench in Spanish, he insulted my family. He should focus on training his team.” 

David Raya, the Arsenal goalkeeper, said it was a "great feeling" to help Arsenal into the Champions League quarter-finals for the first time in 14 years.

Goalkeeper Raya was Arsenal's hero with two penalty saves as they won a shoot-out against Porto 4-2.

"Obviously it's a great feeling especially for me personally, my first time in the Champions League and the first time in a long time club has got to the quarter-finals," the Spaniard told TNT Sports.

"We've been working a lot on penalties this year because on a night like this you need to be good and the hard work has paid off. It's a great night. I should have saved three, but I'm over the moon to save two and get through to the quarter-finals.

"Porto made it so difficult over there and here. But we scored the goal that we needed and it went to penalties. Obviously mentally it's tough but the team played really, really well, we kept a clean sheet, scored the goal and went to penalties.

Arsenal's David Raya, Martin Odegaard, Ben White, Bukayo Saka and Declan Rice celebrate 

"It means everything, You play football for these kind of nights. Over the moon and I'm going to celebrate and enjoy the night."

Gunners boss Mikel Arteta hailed a "magic moment" from Raya as they ended their last-eight hoodoo.

"So happy - 14 years is a long time for a club like Arsenal not to do what we've done today," he told TNT Sports. "We had to dig in and find the magic moment we did at the end today. So proud and so happy. You are very nervous. You are hoping for the best but you know it's a bit of a lottery. We did our preparation yesterday and the day before just in case and it really helped so credit to the goalkeeping coaches as well. We have started to create an unbelievable energy in the stadium and we are all pushing to get it done, and together we've done it.

Conceicao has a history of clashing with Premier League managers. In 2020, after a match against Manchester City, he accused Pep Guardiola of “speaking about our country using ugly words” and added: “Guardiola’s attitude was extremely unpleasant.”