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Mourinho questions Man City’s behaviour in ugly tunnel brawl

Man United boss says derby tunnel brawl down to 'diversity in behaviours and education'

Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho has taken a dig at the behaviour of Manchester City following the visitors' 2-1 win at Old Trafford on Sunday, questioning their "education" in relation to the brawl that took place in the players' tunnel.

Although he was yesterday speaking at a press conference for tomorrow morning's (Singapore time) home match against Bournemouth, the media wasted little time in steering their questions towards the ugly incident.

Mourinho was furious when told of City manager Pep Guardiola's response to the incident during his own press conference just minutes earlier.

The Portuguese snarled: "He says, he says. I'm not here to comment on his words.

"The only thing I can say is that for me, it was just a question of diversity. Diversity in behaviours, diversity in education, just that and nothing more."

Reported to involve some 20 players and officials from both clubs, the brawl has been dubbed "Milkgate" by the British media, because Mourinho reportedly had milk and water thrown at him during the fracas.

Mourinho was said to be upset by City's excessive celebrations after the game, which opened up an 11-point lead at the top of the Premier League. Mikel Arteta, part of City's coaching team, was also reported to have suffered a cut during the chaos.

Referee Michael Oliver did not witness any post-match incidents and made no reference to anything untoward in his match report.

When questioned further yesterday, Mourinho refused to go deeper into the topic.

"This press conference is pre-Bournemouth, not post-Man City. That is done," he said.

Over at City's press conference yesterday, manager Pep Guardiola said that he didn't see anything wrong with his players celebrating in the dressing room. In fact, he revealed that he was the one who encouraged it.

The Spaniard said: "I am the guy who encouraged each other to celebrate."

On whether they went overboard with their celebrations, he said: "Definitely not. It was the same after the Southampton game."

"That was 96 minutes or something like that, but we were happy. It was a derby, it was the closest rival," he added.

Although he defended his team's actions, Guardiola expressed his wish that such an incident would not be repeated.

He said: "People have to understand that we were happy. I think all the teams around the world when they win a derby, they are so happy.

"When we won with Bayern, we were happy, with Barcelona, we celebrated.

"We will make a statement to the FA. I am not going to comment about that."

On Monday, the Football Association ordered the clubs to reply to a request for observations on the incident by today. - WIRE SERVICES

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