Arsene Wenger admits that his rivalry with Jose Mourinho was ‘very personal’ during his time in charge at Arsenal and that it got out of control at times.
The two managers had a feisty relationship during Mourinho’s two spells in charge of Chelsea and while Wenger was amid his epic stint as Gunners boss.
There were memorable comments, especially from the Portuguese, who labelled Wenger a ‘voyeur’ because of Mourinho believed the Frenchman was obsessed with him, and cut still deeper when he called his rival a ‘specialist in failure.’
It was not one-way traffic in terms of insults, with Wenger responding to the ‘voyeur’ comment with a barb of his own: ‘He’s 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.’
Things even got physical between the two men when they squared up on the touchline at Stamford Bridge in 2014 and had to be pulled apart.
Wenger admits he always regretted the physical and verbal altercations, which went too far, but says he only has respect for Mourinho these days.
‘That was sometimes very personal and a little bit out of control,’ Wenger told talkSPORT of his relationship with the Special One.
‘But sometimes it goes overboard. Once or twice with Jose Mourinho it got out of control, but after the game you regret it because you cannot afford that.
‘It creates a big interest from people as well.
‘But after a while it becomes normal again and the respect comes back for each other, because you are in this job for a long time and at the end of the day suffer altogether.’
Mourinho has attempted to put the feud to bed in the past as well, telling Sky Sports in 2018: ‘If he respects me even 50 per cent of what I respect him we can even be friends in the future.
‘I have lots of respect for him.’
