Jose Mourinho, Sir Alex Ferguson hail old rival Arsene Wenger

“You are not a manager, you are not a player of course,” he said. “You do not know the way we respect each other, even when sometimes it looks like in some moments we don’t.

“In the end, probably the ones that respect each other more are the ones that have the problems,” added the Portuguese.

“It is power against power, it is quality against quality, it is ambition against ambition.”

Wenger, 68, announced on Friday that he will end a near 22-year reign at the north London club, during which he has become Arsenal’s most successful manager.

Mourinho’s rivalry with Wenger dates from the younger manager’s arrival at Chelsea as a self-proclaimed ‘Special One’ in 2004.

In 2005, the Portuguese famously labelled the Frenchman a “voyeur” after becoming annoyed at comments from him about his Chelsea team.

By 2014, when the ‘specialist in failure’ comment was made, the rivalry had become so heated that Wenger pushed Mourinho as the pair clashed in the technical area during a 2-0 defeat to Chelsea at Stamford Bridge.

On Friday, Mourinho said he hoped Wenger did not retire from football.

“If he’s happy I’m happy, if he’s sad, I’m sad,” he declared. “I always wish the best for my opponents.

“Mr Wenger and Arsenal were for many, many years the biggest rivals of Sir Alex’s (Ferguson) era, I’m pretty sure that we as a club will show Mr Wenger the respect he deserves.”

Mourinho, a Premier League title winner with Chelsea, recognised what Wenger had achieved.

“For us football people, the real football people, who are the ones inside the four lines, playing, or the managers… the football people don’t have short memories,” he said.

“I know what it means, three Premier League titles and seven FA Cups, what he did in Japan and France, what he brought to French football and what he gave to Arsenal in the period without Premier Leagues, the transition from stadium to stadium.

“We know what he did.”

Wenger “one of the greatest managers”

Former Manchester United boss Alex Ferguson has paid tribute to outgoing Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger, describing the long-serving Frenchman as “one of the greatest Premier League managers”.

Wenger announced on Friday that he would leave Arsenal at the end of the season, bringing an end to his near 22-year reign at the north London club.

Tributes to Wenger poured in from all quarters, but Ferguson’s words are particularly poignant given the longstanding rivalry between the two men who often clashed before the Scot retired in 2013.

“I am really happy for Arsene Wenger. I have great respect for him and for the job he has done at Arsenal,” Ferguson said in a statement on United’s website.

“It is great testament to his talent, professionalism and determination that he has been able to dedicate 22 years of his life to a job that he loves.

“In an era where football managers sometimes only last one or two seasons, it shows what an achievement it is to serve that length of time at a club the size of Arsenal.

“He is, without doubt, one of the greatest Premier League managers and I am proud to have been a rival, a colleague and a friend to such a great man.”

The 68-year-old Wenger won three Premier League titles and seven FA Cups, including domestic doubles in 1998 and 2002, but bows out with Arsenal in sixth place in the Premier League ahead of Sunday’s match against West Ham United.

Wenger’s team face Spain’s Atletico Madrid in the first leg of their Europa League semi-final next week.