Nemanja Matic has been spotted emulating Jose Mourinho’s iconic three-finger taunt whilst on the Manchester United bench on Saturday.
The Red Devils were beaten 3-1 by Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium to put an end to their Champions League hopes. The Gunners grabbed an early advantage after just three minutes when Nuno Tavares tapped home from close range following some calamitous defending by United.
One then became two when Bukayo Saka converted from the penalty spot after being brought down by Alex Telles in the 32nd minute before Cristiano Ronaldo halved the deficit two minutes later. Granit Xhaka then ensured his side would earn all three points with a fierce strike in the 70th minute.
The defeat only compiled yet more misery on United and Matic appeared to have enough of being mocked by Arsenal supporters after being substituted in the 77th minute. The Serbian was filmed turning to the home supporters and gesturing three fingers, which is the number of times he has won the league titles in his career – at Chelsea.
He then made the obvious point that the supporter, sat in the stands, that he had no league titles to his name – which wouldn’t have come as a great shock to them. The minor flare-up from Matic was met with sarcastic cheers from the Arsenal fans, finding great humour in the fact they had managed to irritate the midfielder.
The clip has been seen by thousands on Twitter, with many drawing comparisons between Matic’s rant and those of Mourinho. The Portuguese boss managed the former Benfica star at both Chelsea and United, and it appears his fiery nature has rubbed off on him.
Perhaps in his most iconic rant, Mourinho called for ‘respect’ with three fingers aloft. After a series of probing questions from the media, ‘The Chosen One’ ended his press conference by saying: “Just to finish, do you know what was the result? 3-0, 3-0.
“Do you know what this means? 3-0, but also means three Premierships and I won more alone than the other 19 managers together. Three for me and two for them. Respect, respect, respect, respect, respect.”
The outburst from one of the United team is not the biggest of shocks to many given the reports of how players have become frustrated and unhappy at the club for one reason or another. However, given that it was announced that Erik ten Hag was announced as their new manager earlier this week, many would expect the arrival of the Dutchman may have lifted the mood at Old Trafford.
Though some players may not be overly pleased to see a fresh face in the dugout given that the current Ajax boss has made it clear that he intends on completely reshaping the United squad and signing numerous players. Ralf Rangnick has also added fuel to the fire by hinting that as many as 10 new arrivals in the summer, which will certainly mean that certain fringe players are beginning to weigh up where their future lies – Matic is reported to be included in that bracket.
