Arsene Wenger has been speaking about his rivalry with Sir Alex Ferguson while the pair were managers of Arsenal and Manchester United respectively. The two battled it out following Wenger’s arrival in England as Arsenal boss in 1996 until Ferguson retired after winning the 2012-13 Premier League title at United. Between the pair of them they won 13 Premier League titles with Ferguson accounting for 10 of those. Ferguson branded the relationship between the pair of them ‘toxic’ for a period of time but as the two progressed in their careers — and Arsenal ceased being a force at the top of the Premier League table — it improved.
Sir Alex Ferguson said: “It became toxic for a while. The big change that made Arsenal was reinventing [Thierry] Henry. And the goals… he was fantastic. You’re always looking in the rear-view mirror to see who’s coming up behind you, and when you see someone, you accelerate. Arsenal were catching us up, and their team was good enough to go above us, there’s no question about that.”
And Wenger has now addressed the rivalry between the two and insisted that he was not frightened by Ferguson.Arsene Wenger said: “Everyone was scared of him, from the press to the referees. I thought that’s a good opportunity for me to show that it’s not only in England that you know how to play football. I was ready for the fight. It was sometimes very aggressive, especially after the games. When you’re fighting to win, you are two lions. Your only one desire is to eat the lion who is against you. I was not scared of anybody in football.”
