Arsenal issue response after Mikel Arteta accused of insulting dead relative of Porto boss

Arsenal have strongly denied that Mikel Arteta insulted Sergio Conceicao's family following their Champions League victory against Porto.

The Gunners reached the quarter-finals of the competition for the first time since 2010 after beating the Portuguese giants 4-2 on penalties on Thursday evening. Arsenal had won 1-0 through Leandro Trossard to cancel out Porto's first-leg advantage.

While Arsenal's win triggered wild celebrations at the Emirates Stadium, the post-match scenes then took a sour turn. Porto boss Conceicao accused Arteta of insulting his family.

Speaking after the game, he said: "During the game and towards the bench he, in Spanish, I don’t know if this is to do with Spanish managers, he insulted my family. At the end, I told him that the person he insulted is no longer among us."

Arsenal have vehemently denied Conceicao's claim. Mirror Football have contacted Arsenal for comment. Arteta was asked about any tense exchange between him and his opposite number but chose to steer clear of any controversy.

Speaking in his post-match press conference, he said: "Really, really happy. We want more. Let’s wait till we have to play again. And no comment, thank you so much."

"A magic night," he added when asked about his emotions after the game. "What we expected, a really tough opponent, really well organised and very difficult to generate constant momentum in the game.

"That’s credit to them. We did it. We scored a beautiful goal and then we insisted in different ways. We had to do it at the end with the penalties. We prepared well.

"Credit to the coaches and the ones who took it. Of course David, who had some difficult moments to start but stood up with incredible personality and ambition. In the end we got the reward."

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