Jose Mourinho and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer in war of words after Manchester United beat Tottenham

Jose Mourinho and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer were involved in an extraordinary war of words after the Manchester United manager accused Tottenham’s Son Heung-min of ‘conning’ his team out of a goal.

Although United recovered to win 3-1, controversy surrounded an incident in the first half when Edinson Cavani’s goal was ruled out because Scott McTominay caught Son in the face with his right hand in the build-up. 

Solskjaer felt the South Korean star over-reacted before referee Chris Kavanagh reviewed the incident on a touchline monitor before awarding Spurs a free kick.

‘The game has absolutely gone – it was a perfectly good goal,’ said the United boss.

‘We shouldn’t be conned. I have to say, if my son stays down for three minutes and he needs his 10 mates to help him up, he won’t get any food. We weren’t conned, the referee was.’

On Friday Solskjaer accused Erik Lamela of conning Anthony Martial into getting sent off when the two teams last met in October, and his latest comments brought an angry response from Mourinho.

Solskjaer accused Son-Heung min (C) of ‘conning’ United out of a goal in their win on Sunday

Son went to ground before Edinson Cavani’s goal, having been caught by Scott McTominay

The Spurs boss said: ‘I told Ole this already because I met him a few minutes ago. If it’s me that players a b or c from another club, if it was my son I wouldn’t give him dinner tonight or something like that, what would be the reaction?

‘In relation to that I just want to say Sonny is very lucky that his father is a better person than Ole.

‘Because a father – I am a father – you have always to feed your kids, it doesn’t matter what they do.

‘If you have to steal to feed your kids, you steal. In Portugal we say, “bread is bread and cheese is cheese”.

Mourinho and Solskjaer exchanged words on the touchline after United’s goal was disallowed

‘I am very disappointed I have told Ole already what I think about his comments.’

Asked about his conversations with Mourinho on Sunday, Solskjaer appeared to back-track on his earlier comments.

‘Sometimes some words are being said,’ he added. ‘The important thing is that we are colleagues and friends.

‘Before, after and sometimes during a game you can have a bit of a dispute and I think we have utmost respect for each other. I have some words I can take back.’

Solskjaer insisted his son would not have got any food if he’d reacted in the same way as Son

Mourinho also rowed back on his claims that Paul Pogba should have been sent off for elbowing Serge Aurier in the face.

‘We were unlucky because maybe Pogba should get a red card for an elbow on Aurier,’ he said before later adding: ‘No, I’m not saying that. I said to comment on the (disallowed) goal let’s be honest and comment on everything.

‘In this moment in football, the decisions are not uniform. You never know when it is a red card an offside or a goal.’

Solskjaer paid tribute to Cavani who got eventually on the scoresheet with a header in the 79th minute to score United’s second, and said he has not given up hope of persuading the Uruguay striker to stay at Old Trafford for a second season.

Cavani superbly nodded United into the lead and Solskjaer has paid tribute to the veteran ace

‘A performance like today we have missed as a club for a few years,’ he said. ‘We haven’t had that type of No.9 for a long spell.

‘He is thinking long and hard about what he wants to do and I understand. He knows what we want. I want him to experience Old Trafford full and scoring a header like today at the Stretford End. There is no better feeling.

‘It’s been a difficult year for everyone with the pandemic. For a new lad who doesn’t speak English not having his family over here, of course it (leaving) is in the back of his head.

‘Fingers crossed. If he decides it’s just the season then we’d be very happy to have had him here.’