Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has said he was provoked by Chelsea counterpart Jose Mourinho before he pushed him in a touchline confrontation at Stamford Bridge last weekend.
Wenger confronted Mourinho in the technical area after a foul on Alexis Sanchez by Gary Cahill midway through the first half of Chelsea's 2-0 win.
He later accepted that he had given the Blues boss "a little push," but defended his actions.
Speaking to French TV channel TF1, Wenger -- whose remarks were reported in The Guardian -- said: "They gave too much importance to this story. In hindsight, I think I should not have reacted at all -- it's not a way to behave on a football field.
"I always regret any signs of violence and I apologise, but that's a part of games where everything is manic. And then we have quite a substantial past. Did Mourinho provoke me? That is how I felt. I did not enter Chelsea's technical area."
The managers had to be separated by fourth official Jon Moss before they were called over by referee Martin Atkinson, who warned that any further transgressions would see them sent to the stands.
Mourinho, also speaking to TF1, said he had "no words to explain what everybody saw in those images."
But former Liverpool manager Gerard Houllier last week told RMC he sympathised with Wenger and believed the British media had blown the incident out of proportion.