Mikel Arteta made headlines this week after he unleashed a furious rant on the back of Arsenal FC‘s 1-0 loss to Newcastle.
The Arsenal boss was unhappy with the decision to award Newcastle’s goal. Firstly, the ball looked like it went out of play before Joe Willock crossed it in. Secondly, Gunners defender Gabriel Magalhaes looked like he was fouled by Joelinton, who had two hands on the defender’s back.
On the back of his rant, Arsenal released a statement in which they supported the comments made by Arteta.
Arteta gives explaination ahead of Arsenal vs Seville clash
Speaking ahead of Arsenal’s match in the Champions League, Mikel explained why he spoke in the way he did after the Newcastle game.
He said: “My duty is to defend my players and my club in the best possible way.
“It is what I intend to do time after time. I always do it and will take my responsibility to do it. It’s the way I am. I have to defend my club.”
When asked about the response the statement by Arsenal has received after Gary Neville branded it as ‘dangerous’, Arteta said: “Again, we have a duty to express how we feel with the evidence we have and the history we have.”
What Neville said and the irony in Arteta’s rant
Speaking on Sky Sports, Neville said: “I thought Arsenal’s statement was really poor.
“The day after Liverpool wrote their statement mentioning ‘sporting integrity’ and looking at all options and suggested a replay. I thought it was quite dangerous. Arsenal’s statement was also quite dangerous.”
The rant of Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta after the game was quite ironical, because earlier he had asked to support the officials when Luis Diaz’s goal was wrongly disallowed. He also said that the supporters need to ‘accept that mistakes happen’.
For more sports updates, follow us on Twitter.
