Ars? Wenger, the Arsenal manager, last night launched an intemperate attack on the media, threatening to sue newspapers for misquoting him following his recent statements over his row with his Chelsea counterpart, Jose Mourinho. Wenger claimed that he had never called Mourinho "stupid" - even though in a briefing on Tuesday before last night's Champions' League tie, he had referred to the danger of "stupid people" becoming successful, directly in relation to a question about Mourinho. Wenger's anger turned into a tirade last night, accusing reporters of hiding behind the fact that they did not write headlines and saying that he would also examine whether he should be taking "action" against them. "I just do not accept that you do not quote me [accurately]," he said. Wenger also reiterated that he may yet take action against Mourinho, for calling him a "voyeur" obsessed with Chelsea."After we have a break [the international break], I will think about the situation," Wenger said. "But if I'm attacked, I respond."However, once again, Wenger failed to specify exactly what action he was considering. Legal experts have already pointed out that he certainly does not appear to have any grounds for libel.The Football Association was last night set to intervene in the row, hoping to end the dispute, while the League Managers Association has also offered to act as a mediator in the coming days, claiming the Wenger-Mourinho dispute was damaging the game.In response to that, Wenger maintained that he had done "nothing wrong" "I don't know what the FA want to do," Wenger added "I don't know what I have done wrong.". Fernando Morientes may have sparkled for Liverpool in their Champions' League victory over Anderlecht on Tuesday, but the European champions are exploring the possibility of off-loading the Spanish striker in a deal to bring Real Betis' Joaquin to Anfield.

The Spanish side are believed to want a £7m payment - as well as the Spain international - in return for their prize asset. Joaquin was in the Betis side that inflicted upon Chelsea their first defeat of the season over 90 minutes on Tuesday night and he is regarded as the leading performer in a team that has struggled in La Liga this season after qualifying for the Champions' League for the first time. The Spain international would be ideal to fill a right-sided role that has caused Rafael Benitez problems in recent months. The Liverpool manager opted to play Luis Garcia there last season but lately the right-sided position has fallen to Steven Gerrard, who played there in the win over Anderlecht in which Morientes scored the first goal.Morientes joined from Real Madrid for £6.3m in the January transfer window. However, he has struggled with the demands of the Premiership and has scored just six goals in 27 appearances.. Amid all the eyebrow-raising abuse hurled back and forth across London by Jose Mourinho and Ars? Wenger, the admission by the Chelsea manager that he has taken the time to compile a "file of 120 pages" detailing what his rival has said is surely the most startling.

Apart from once more revealing the obsessive - and obsessively thorough - approach of Mourinho it also, along with its pettiness, simply shows how far he is prepared to go to try and dominate Arsenal and their manager. It remains to be seen if the dossier actually exists or whether the claim was simply a typical piece of Mourinho bravura in response to Wenger's own empty threat of possible legal action. Indeed, sources in Portugal said yesterday that Mourinho is simply too vain to undertake such an exercise.But if there is a file then the task of gathering the statements will probably have fallen to the media department run by Chelsea's director of communications, Simon Greenberg. Last season Greenberg himself consulted another work to try and understand the mind-set of the Chelsea manager. He read Machiavelli's The Prince, that handbook packed with advice from Renaissance Italy about acquiring power and holding on to it - and how it could be achieved without reference to ethics or morals.