The pair rekindled their long-standing feud when Wenger confronted Mourinho on the side of the Stamford Bridge pitch during the Blues’ 2-0 win over the Gunners.
The Frenchman had left his technical area to remonstrate a foul on Alexis Sanchez by Gary Cahill in the first half, shoving the Portuguese when he was told to “back off”.
Wenger concedes he should not have resorted to such actions, but defended himself by insisting he felt coerced into doing so.
He told French TV channel TF1: “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.”
Commenting on their altercation, Mourinho told TF1 he had “no words to explain what everybody saw in those images.”