Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho has insisted that he always had respect for Arsene Wenger despite all their clashes and run-ins over the years.

Wenger announced the end of his 22-year reign at Arsenal on Friday and he will be stepping down from the manager’s role at the Emirates at the end of the season.




Tributes have been pouring in from all corners for the work Wenger has done at Arsenal and Mourinho, the Frenchman’s eternal nemesis, has also waded in with his own form of tribute for the Arsenal manager.

Mourinho and Wenger have shared a frosty relationship since the Portuguese took charge of Chelsea for the first time in 2004 and bitter words have been exchanged between the two.
 


The Manchester United manager even got into a scuffle with the Frenchman a few years ago on the Stamford Bridge touchline.  

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However, Mourinho stressed that despite all the clashes he shares a healthy respect for Wenger and admits it is difficult for people from outside to understand what kind of relationship he has with the Frenchman.

He showed praise on what the Frenchman has achieved during his career and is hopeful that Wenger is not completely walking away from football.

Asked if he regrets his run-ins with Wenger, Mourinho said in a press conference: “It’s not about regretting,

"I think your question is a typical question from somebody that was not in this side, you were not a manager or a player.

“Of course you don’t know the way we respect each other even when sometimes it doesn’t look like we don’t.

"Players that get yellow cards and red cards by aggressive actions against each other, bad words during the career, the manager is the same thing but the ones that respect more each other are the ones with the problems.

“Its power and ambition and quality against each other but in the end it’s people from the same business and respect each other’s’ careers, so it happened.

“What matters for me is the way I respect the person, the professional, the career and I always say that for some the memories short, but for us football people, the real football people, who are the ones inside the four lines, playing, or the managers, or the referees, the others live on us, the football people doesn’t have short memory.”

He added: “I know what it means, three Premier League titles and seven FA Cups.

"What he did in Japan and France, what he brought to French football and what he gave to Arsenal in the period without the Premier Leagues, the transition from stadium to stadium, we know what he did.

“If he’s happy with the decision, I’m really happy and I hope he doesn’t retire from football.”