Wenger: Why I didn't shake hands
Manager Arsène Wenger has responded to the criticism levelled at him by the British press over his refusal to shake Manchester City manager Mark Hughes' hand.
The English press have literally condemned the Frenchman as being a sore loser, but Wenger says that even if his side had won the match, he would still have walked straight down the tunnel.
Hughes, with all the elegance of a drunkard, had during the match, encroached into the Arsenal technical area and kicked a ball back onto the pitch when it had gone out of play. It was classless and rude, and the audacity of the man to claim the moral high ground after the match was incredible.
It was that blatant professional ignorance that made Wenger realise that there was no point in reasoning with the City manager, or even the British press who were quick (as always) to blame and criticise without having taken a step back to ponder and reflect.
Wenger said: "Tomorrow, by coincidence, I am managing my 500th game at Arsenal and I believe I have shaken hands 497 times.
"I believe that it is a ceremonial courtesy. But the most important is not the ceremonial but the courtesy of behaviour.
"I don't deny that I am a bad loser but on this occasion I would have done exactly the same if we had won or lost the game.
"I act in accordance with the principles I think are important on the football pitch and I maintain exactly what I said and did.
"I'm used to treating this kind of thing with the needed distance. I do not want to make a fuss.
"There are incidents on the touchline but you never heard me ever say anything about another manager after the game, in a press conference or after during the week.
"I maintain exactly the way I behave and do not regret one second of what I did."
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I maintain exactly the way I behave and do not regret one second of what I did.
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