– Manchester United came from behind to dent Tottenham’s top-four aspirations
– Jose Mourinho and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer were involved in a furious war of words
– Solskjaer had accused Son-Heung min of ‘conning’ United out of a first-half goal
– And Mourinho fired back at Solskjaer’s comments in his post-match conference
LONDON – Jose Mourinho and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer were involved in an extraordinary war of words after the Manchester United manager accused Tottenham’s Son Heung-min of ‘conning’ his team out of a goal.
Although United recovered to win 3-1, controversy surrounded an incident in the first half when Edinson Cavani’s goal was ruled out because Scott McTominay caught Son in the face with his right hand in the build-up.
Solskjaer felt the South Korean star over-reacted before referee Chris Kavanagh reviewed the incident on a touchline monitor before awarding Spurs a free kick.
‘The game has absolutely gone – it was a perfectly good goal,’ said the United boss.
‘We shouldn’t be conned. I have to say, if my son stays down for three minutes and he needs his 10 mates to help him up, he won’t get any food. We weren’t conned, the referee was.’
On Friday Solskjaer accused Erik Lamela of conning Anthony Martial into getting sent off when the two teams last met in October, and his latest comments brought an angry response from Mourinho.
The Spurs boss said: ‘I told Ole this already because I met him a few minutes ago. If it’s me that players a, b or c from another club, if it was my son I wouldn’t give him dinner tonight or something like that, what would be the reaction?
‘In relation to that I just want to say Sonny is very lucky that his father is a better person than Ole.
‘Because a father – I am a father – you have always to feed your kids; it doesn’t matter what they do.
‘If you have to steal to feed your kids, you steal. In Portugal we say, ‘bread is bread and cheese is cheese’.
‘I am very disappointed I have told Ole already what I think about his comments.’
Asked about his conversations with Mourinho on Sunday, Solskjaer appeared to back-track on his earlier comments.
‘Sometimes some words are being said,’ he added. ‘The important thing is that we are colleagues and friends.
‘Before, after and sometimes during a game you can have a bit of a dispute and I think we have utmost respect for each other. I have some words I can take back.’
