The moment has
almost arrived. Forget Batman versus Superman - this is the highly anticipated
blockbuster of the year: Pep Guardiola versus Jose Mourinho. Manchester City
versus Manchester United. Saturday's tie could be one of the most hyped-up
Premier League games of all time.
Guardiola and
Mourinho were relatively close when they were both at the Nou Camp, but being
matched up later in opposing dugouts for games between Barcelona and Real
Madrid shattered any semblance of that. Add the Champions League semi-final
during Mourinho's time at Inter Milan, toss in an eye-poke and the Manchester
derby reads more like a guide to creating fireworks than a football match.
Ahead of the big
game,Sportsmail has assembled the best quotes from the two friends turned foes.
Mourinho on
Guardiola
Mourinho's analysis
of the infamous semi-final between Barcelona and Chelsea at Stamford Bridge...
‘A year ago Chelsea
were crying and Barca were laughing with the referee. They laughed because he
denied my Chelsea boys their rightful place.’
After Guardiola
complained about Pedro’s goal being ruled out for offside in a Copa del Rey
tie...
‘Up until now there
was a very small group of coaches who didn't talk about referees and a larger
group who did. Now, with Pep's comments, we have started a new era with a third
group, featuring only one person, a man who criticises [the referee] when he
makes good decisions. This is completely new to me.’
After Barca beat
Real 2-0 in the Champions League semi-final in 2011...
‘One day, I would like
Josep Guardiola to win this competition properly. If I tell UEFA what I really
think and feel, my career would end now. Instead I will just ask a question to
which I hope one day to get a response: Why? Why Ovrebo? Why Busacca? Why De
Bleeckere? Why Stark? Why? Because every semi-final the same things happen. We
are talking about an absolutely fantastic football team, so why do they need
that? Why?
'Why does a team as
good as they are need something [extra] that is so obvious that everyone sees
it? I don't know if it is the UNICEF sponsorship or if it is because they are
nice guys. I don't understand. They have power and we have no chance. All I can
do is leave that question here in the air and hope that one day I will get the
response. They have to get to the final, and they'll get there, full stop.
Josep Guardiola is a fantastic coach. But I have won two Champions Leagues and
he has won [only] one Champions League - and that is one that would embarrass
me.
'I would be ashamed
to have won it with the scandal of Stamford Bridge. If he wins it this year, it
will be with the scandal of the Bernabeu. Deep down, if they are good people,
it cannot taste right for them. I hope one day Guardiola has the chance of
winning a brilliant, clean championship with no scandal.’
Mourinho on
Barcelona's playing style after the Spanish Super Cup final in 2011...
‘I'm not going to
say we're happy because we didn't win the Spanish Super Cup, that would be
hypocritical of me. But we intended to play like men and not fall on the ground
at the slightest touch. I have been taught to play like a man and not to fall
first.’
His thoughts on
Guardiola's one-year sabbatical...
‘It's his life, but
for me it's unthinkable to take a sabbatical. He is younger than me, but I'm
not tired.’
After Chelsea's
match with Bayern Munich in the UEFA Super Cup final...
‘The best team
clearly lost. They just scored one more penalty.’
On refereeing
standards...
‘Every time I play
Pep I end up with 10 men. It must be some sort of UEFA rule.’
Mourinho's views on
their similarities...
‘There are people,
much more intelligent than me, who manage to sell an image of themselves,
completely different to mine, but deep down they are the same as me.'
Discussing a photo
of the two from their time together at Barcelona...
‘Yes, I still have
a photo of that embrace. We were close.’
Why the rivalry in
the Premier League will be less intense...
‘My experience does
not allow me to be naive. I was in Spain for two years, where the champion
would be me or him. There, individual battles make more sense because they can
affect the outcome (of the title race).
'If in the Premier
League I were to focus on him and Manchester City and he were to focus on me
and Manchester United, someone else would be champion. The level of the Premier
League is going to get better with the players and coaches who will come.
'Four champions in
four years shows how competitive it is, and also says a lot about the
television rights and its distribution, which will allow the growth of the
league and all its teams. It is different to other leagues where the sharks
will always be sharks.’
Guardiola on
Mourinho
Why Guardiola chose
to keep calm...
‘I know Mourinho
and he's trying to provoke me into a reaction, but it won't work. I'm not going
to react. I'm not going to answer back. Only when I think the time is right.’
The time was right
ahead of the Champions League semi-final between Barcelona and Real Madrid in
2011...
‘As senor Mourinho
has called me Pep, I'm going to call him Jose. Tomorrow at 8.45pm we will face
each other on the pitch. Off the pitch he's won. He's been winning off the
pitch all season. Let them give him a Champions League for it so he can enjoy
it and take it home.
'In the press room
he is 'el p*** jefe' (the ******* boss) and the one who knows more than
everyone else. I would only remind him that we were together, he and I, for
four years. He knows me and I know him. That's enough for me.
'If he prefers to
value the views of the journalist friends who take their information in a drip
feed from Florentino PĂ©rez more than the relationship we had for four years
then that's his choice. I try to learn from Jose on the pitch, but I prefer to
learn as little as possible from him off the pitch.’
On their time under
Bobby Robson...
‘We would exchange
ideas. It was a friendship, well a working relationship.’.
Discussing the
state of their relationship...
‘With Mourinho, so
many things happened. So many things.’
After it was
suggested to Guardiola that the two managers are quite similar...
‘If that's true, I
will have to revise my behaviour.’
Following
Guardiola's appointment as City manager...
'I think Jose said
it pretty well. It's not about him or me. Whatever you saw from the distance
doesn’t matter, we played many times against each other and I know him well.’
Ahead of the new
Premier League season...
'I don't see it as
a question. He wants to win, I want to win, we know each other pretty well from
before at Barcelona.'
Reference: Dailymail
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