Jose Mourinho claims Arsene Wenger was jealous of his early success at Chelsea and by knocking the Gunners off their perch a bitter rivalry was born.
The Special One was appointed Chelsea manager in 2004 and put together a side which lost just once all season, cantering to the league title, finishing 12 points ahead of deposed champions Arsenal.
Mourinho has enjoyed the upper-hand over Wenger ever since, finally losing his proud unbeaten run against his great adversary at the 14th attempt on Sunday, when goals from Granit Xhaka and Danny Welbeck helped Arsenal to a 2-0 win over Manchester United.
The Portuguese could not resist a subtle dig at Arsenal and their long-serving manager in the aftermath, saying: ‘The Arsenal fans they are happy, I’m happy for them.
‘It’s the first time I leave Highbury or the Emirates and they are happy. It’s the first time. I left Highbury they were crying, I left Emirates they were crying.
‘It’s a big club. Do you think I enjoy the fact that a big club like Arsenal is not winning big trophies? I’m not enjoying that but today I tried to win. I did not give them the game to win but we lost.’
In a further interview with ESPN Brazil, Mourinho attempted to downplay the suggestion there was any hostility between himself and Wenger, but couldn’t resist another pointed barb.
He said: ‘There’s no rivalry. Maybe the rivalry started because when I came to England in 2004, Arsenal were the best team and started losing league titles after 2004.
‘There’s no special rivalry, I respect the manager and have no personal issues.’
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