Reports: Jose Mourinho soaked, Mikel Arteta bloodied in tunnel melee after Manchester derby

Jose Mourinho was not a happy man after Manchester United’s 2-1 loss to Manchester City on Sunday. One glance at his postgame comments tells us so. “They are protected by luck,” he said of his victorious opponents. He called their goals “disgraceful.”

But before any of those words came out of his mouth, according to several reports Sunday night, Mourinho confronted City players at their locker room, and incited a altercation in a narrow hallway in the bowels of Old Trafford.

With loud music reportedly blaring and City players rejoicing, Mourinho reportedly arrived at the locker room door to ask for more respectful celebrations. That’s when things kicked off.

A confrontation reportedly occurred – specifically between Mourinho and Man City goalkeeper Ederson. The two reportedly got into a shouting match in Portuguese. The scrap reportedly turned into a roughly 20-person “melee.”

During the altercation, Mourinho reportedly had milk and water thrown at him. He was reportedly struck by an empty plastic bottle. Man City assistant coach Mikel Arteta was reportedly cut above the eye. According to some reports, punches were thrown.

Here’s more from the Guardian’s Daniel Taylor:

Mourinho became embroiled in a row with Ederson, City’s Brazilian goalkeeper, who was standing just inside the dressing-room door and the two started shouting insults at one another in Portuguese. Mourinho is said to have accused Ederson of play-acting to waste time and then reverted to English, screaming “you f—ing show respect. Who are you?”

 

Other players became involved and Romelu Lukaku was said to be prominently involved as the confrontation escalated into something much more serious, described by one person on the scene as being reminiscent of a pub fight.

And from Goal’s Sam Lee:

Sources indicate Mourinho took exception, believing the celebrations to be a lack of respect, and told Pep Guardiola’s men to calm down with a comment in Portuguese that sparked an ugly reaction.

 

Brazilian goalkeeper Ederson is said to have confronted Mourinho, which led to a number of players and members of staff from both teams spilling out of their respective dressing rooms and into the tunnel, where they pushed and shoved each other.

 

United first-team coach Silvino Louro is believed to have been in the thick of the action, along with a handful of players from both sides, coaches and masseurs. Goal has learned that City coach Arteta received a cut eyebrow in the ruckus, while United striker Romelu Lukaku is believed to have been heavily involved.

Multiple postgame pictures showed City players understandably ecstatic in the Old Trafford tunnel. City winger Leroy Sane posted a picture from the locker room on social media:

There is not yet any video of the incident, but we’ll update this post with video or any more information.

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