Wenger compares derby emotions to sumo wrestling
In the mid-1990s, Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger hung his hat in Nagoya, Japan, while at the helm of a team then known as Grampus Eight. It was there the French tactician learned of Japan's sporting culture, lessons he turned to in the wake of reports that Manchester United and Manchester City players and staff didn't get along so well after their latest derby tilt.
A carton of milk thrown at United manager Jose Mourinho, who complained of the noise from City's dressing room following their victory. In his many years at Arsenal, Wenger, too, has seen emotions boil over, and weighed in on this recent incident by recalling sumo wrestling.
"In sumo you never can tell who the guy who wins is," Wenger said, as quoted by The Guardian's Amy Lawrence. "He doesn't show his happiness because of respect for his opponents and that shows how deep the culture is there for the respect for each other.
"Is it something you can copy? I don't think so because it's not part of our culture. It is difficult to take when you lose a big game, to see the 100 percent celebration on the other side. It's always a little bit like an offence."
Following the match, both Mourinho and City boss Pep Guardiola traded thinly veiled barbs, questioning professionalism and goading one another with talk of merit and intent. Guardiola admitted he instructed his players to celebrate the victory, while Mourinho offered that City is "protected by luck."
But Wenger explained even those comments feed into the reason behind the emotional postmatch conflicts ... that then turn into controversy.
"Sometimes that can happen in big derbies," Wenger offered. "In fact, you are always very good in the press because you build these things up like it's life or death and after something happens you are surprised. It's part of the intensity and importance of the games, sometimes it can go a bit overboard. It happened to us, it happened to them and it's unfortunate. Ideally you want the passion to be on the football pitch."