After the Gunners had beaten his Chelsea side in the Community Shield at Wembley, José Mourinho stood at the bottom of the steps and shook the hand of every single Arsenal player.
Arsène Wenger followed them and both managers made an effort to avoid one another, for some reason it was a huge talking point.
Of course Chelsea had lost and Mourinho had to find a way to deflect attention from the defeat, so he created another headline. Wenger, meanwhile, seems to have no interest in talking to a man who has constantly undermined and insulted him, and why should he?
Nonetheless, a handshake – or lack of one – will once again be a talking point on Saturday, and Wenger refused to comment on the matter in Friday’s press conference.
Wenger doing his level best here not to get into a war of words with Mourinho. Refused to confirm whether he would shake hands though.
— James Olley (@JamesOlley) September 18, 2015
Wenger, who has been labelled a “voyeur” as well as a “specialist in failure” by Mourinho can’t really be blamed for his indifference.
Wenger: “A special relationship is not my worry.” #AFC
— Simon Collings (@sr_collings) September 18, 2015
All that matters on Saturday is the result, and Wenger knows it.
“Realistically people come to watch football and all the rest is a little bit secondary,” the Arsenal manager also told the media. “What is important is the quality of what we will see tomorrow at 12:45 and you want people to focus on that.”
The (lack of a) handshake will be nothing but a footnote to the game, but I hope the newspapers are full of stories about the managers on Sunday morning. That will probably mean Arsenal have won and Mourinho is just trying his favourite old trick once more.