Football
Rob Dawson, Correspondent 6y

Jose Mourinho blames Manchester derby fracas on 'diversity in education'

MANCHESTER -- Jose Mourinho has questioned Manchester City's "education" and suggested his Manchester United team would not have celebrated a derby win in the way Pep Guardiola's side did to trigger the tunnel brawl at Old Trafford.

Players and staff from both clubs were involved in the incident in the tunnel connecting the two dressing rooms after Sunday's game, which City won 2-1.

Sources have told ESPN FC that it was Mourinho's unhappiness at what he deemed to be disrespectful celebrations by City's players that sparked the clash.

And while the United boss refused to go into detail about exactly what happened, he hinted that he disagreed with Guardiola's assessment that his players did nothing wrong.

He told a news conference on Tuesday: "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 than that.

"This press conference is pre-Bournemouth, it's not post-Manchester City, that was already done, and this press conference is pre-Bournemouth. I know but I keep saying this is pre-Bournemouth."

United and City have until 6 p.m. GMT on Wednesday to submit their observations about what happened in the tunnel while the Football Association investigates.

The FA is also gathering evidence after a smoke bomb appeared to be thrown at City midfielder Bernardo Silva in the closing stages.

United will look to bounce back from their derby defeat when they take on Bournemouth at Old Trafford on Wednesday night.

Mourinho said: "As always, when you lose probably you have a little bit more desire to win it. Nobody likes to lose once or lose twice. It's something that belongs to every team in the world -- when you lose the match, the next one you have extra to give.

"The motivation is based on us wanting to try to win all the time. And I repeat, when you have a bad result we don't want to have two bad results -- we lost against Chelsea and the next match we had a little bit extra to try to win. Chelsea lost this week and for sure the next match they will have a little more to give."

Mourinho also refused to say whether or not he thinks City's 11-point lead at the top of the Premier League table is too much to claw back.

He added: "I told you that when it was eight we go match by match, try to win the match, try to get the maximum, the number of points we have. We had seven or eight less in this moment [last season]. We try. Last season we drew at home against Bournemouth. Let's try to do better."

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