LONDON -- Arsene Wenger says he's "supportive" of Jose Mourinho after Manchester United's Champions League loss to Sevilla, although the Arsenal boss wasn't in the mood to discuss his old rival's struggles any more than that.
Wenger should know exactly what Mourinho is going through as the Portuguese manager is facing criticism from both media and fans following Tuesday's 2-1 home loss to Sevilla, which dumped United out on the same aggregate score.
The Arsenal boss has himself seen Arsenal exit in the round of 16 of the Champions League for the last seven years and has taken his fair share of criticism this season as well.
So after getting public backing from former Man United foe Sir Alex Ferguson recently, would the long-time Arsenal boss return the favour by lending his support to Mourinho, a rival he has so often clashed publicly with?
"I'm supportive of everybody who suffers," Wenger answered diplomatically when posed the question -- though he carefully avoided ever using Mourinho's name. "Your job [in the media] is to get everybody to suffer. Our job [as managers] is to get as few people as possible to suffer.
"I want English football to do well. But people at our level, they are the most demanding with themselves. And the biggest suffering we get is from our own demands with ourselves. For the rest, we get love or not love.
"You know what a guy said? You're loved when you're born, you're loved when you die, in between you have to manage."
Wenger's Arsenal side could keep their own hopes of European glory alive by protecting a 2-0 lead against AC Milan when they face the Italian side in the second leg of their Europa League tie on Thursday at the Emirates.
That competition represents the Gunners only remaining hope of salvaging their season -- and possibly saving Wenger's job -- which may be one reason why the Frenchman didn't want to linger too much on Mourinho's problems.
"I want everybody to be happy in the world," he said. "I don't want to speak about Manchester United's situation because my job is to take care of Arsenal. And overall I want English football to do well, and I want every manager to be happy. It's not possible."
So far, some English teams have struggled at home in the Champions League knockout rounds and Wenger admitted that serves as a reminder that Arsenal can't relax just yet despite their lead.
"We can struggle, we are like Man United, we are like Tottenham, like everybody. Football is football and you have to accept that when the performance on the day is not top spot we can suffer," Wenger said. "We have seen again [Tuesday] night that 0-0 at home is a good result in Europe because of the weight of the away goal.
"Because not only does it put you away from home in a nothing-to-lose position, but it puts the team who plays at home in an everything to lose position. Because if they concede a goal they know they're nearly out, and if you play at home it's very difficult.
"Europe gives you always a psychological problem that you have to master. When you have won away from home you have to finish the job at home, and it's not easy.
"Because it puts the team that plays against you in a position where they have nothing to lose. And you have to face the fact that the best way to approach the game is to win again."
Wenger also downplayed the thousands of empty seats that have been seen at the Emirates in recent games as season ticket holders have stayed away to show their displeasure with the team's results -- saying Arsenal have sold out most games since he became manager.
"I feel that for 22 years I've played in front of a sold out stadium, and I'm grateful. And if there's one or two games where the stadium is not completely full, we have to look at ourselves and get the fans behind us again," he said. "This club is massive and the support is huge, it's just down to our performance."