Now that Arsene Wenger is set to leave Arsenal, his biggest present-day rival Jose Mourinho has actually got some nice things to say about Le Prof for a change. Normally the United boss would be winding up Wenger before a game and is famous for calling the Gunners boss “a specialist in failure”, but he has now said that he regrets some of things he has said or done in the past. “There were little things where it would obviously be better without them – some gestures, some words.” Mourinho said in the Man United website.
“I feel better now without it, no doubts about it, but again when I arrived in England in 2004, Arsenal was the champion and was the famous champion of The Invincibles. I arrive and for the next couple of years was with them – [Dennis] Bergkamp, Thierry [Henry] and [Sol] Campbell – an amazing team, so again, thank you very much for that. They pushed us to the limit, the two matches we played, not at the Emirates [Stadium], but at the amazing old stadium [Highbury], unforgettable. We had big matches, big fights, so thank you, thank you so much for that. Regret, little negative episodes, yes I do and probably [Wenger] also does.”
Last year United were down in sixth, like Arsenal right now, and Mourinho decided to concentrate on trying to win the Europa League and Jose defended Wenger again, saying how hard is what to combine European games with the Premier League. “The Gunners’ season has been similar to our last season [in 2016/17].” Jose continued. “I think when you fight to try to win in Europe, you are a bit punished in the league. Probably, without the ambition to win the Europa League, they would have a few more points and they would be fighting more for the fourth position. But, in the same way we did last season, I think they put everything in the Europa League to try to win it and that’s why they are in the semi-final and still have a second leg to fight for [against Atletico Madrid].”