LONDON //Arsene Wenger fired back at Jose Mourinho’s “silly, disrespectful remark” regarding his achievements as Arsenal manager, claiming the comments bring “embarrassment” on Chelsea.
Arsenal on Sunday reached the FA Cup quarter-finals following a 2-1 win over Liverpool, courtesy of goals from Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Lukas Podolski.
The result was a perfect response to not only Arsenal's 5-1 loss to Liverpool a week ago, but also to Mourinho's claim on Friday that Wenger was a "specialist in failure".
The Chelsea coach made the comments in response to earlier remarks from Wenger in which the Frenchman claimed any team which says they are not in the title race – as Mourinho has done all season – does so out of fear of falling short of their ambition.
Wenger insists his comments were not aimed at Mourinho and slammed his rival for Saturday’s snarky comment.
“I do not want to go into that silly, disrespectful remark,” Wenger told BT Sport. “The only thing I know is, it’s more embarrassing for Chelsea than for me.”
Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers fired off a few shots of his own after the close loss and was fuming about a late decision he felt should have earned a penalty kick.
“I thought the best team lost,” he told BT Sport. “I thought the very least we deserved was a replay.
“Going forward, we were a real threat and are bitterly disappointed not to get something, and not to get another penalty, which I though was a blatant penalty.”
sports@thenational.ae
