Former Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho took aim at Feyenoord boss Arne Slot after he said he prefers to watch Pep Guardiola's Manchester City rather than AS Roma.
The Eredivisie leaders beat Roma 1-0 in the Europa League quarter-final first leg and when he was asked if he was studying the Serie A club before the reverse fixture, Slot replied: "No, I prefer to watch Manchester City ’s games."
His comments would backfire a week later. Paulo Dybala scored in the 89th minute in Rome to take the tie to extra time before Stephan El Shaarawy and Lorenzo Pellegrini sent Mourinho's men through to the last four. And after the game Mourinho clearly hadn’t forgotten about his opposite number’s comments.
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TV cameras picked up Mourinho shouting: "You should be watching my Roma team - and not just Manchester City. "You only study his team and Napoli. But you should watch our team."
Mourinho's rivalry with Guardiola dates back to their time as managers of Real Madrid and Barcelona respectively. The pair reignited their rivalry when the Portuguese boss joined United and the Catalan coach arrived at City. The 60-year-old has faced Guardiola more than any other manager. In 25 encounters, Mourinho has won seven, drawn six and lost 12 games.
When discussing Mourinho in 2021, Guardiola played down talk of a hatred between the pair. He said: " Maybe you expect it, or like it, but why should we have a rivalry with all the managers we have? "I'm calm, I prefer not to be involved. I have a good relationship with him, we can agree or disagree but it's not a big problem.
"His business is Tottenham, or before United, mine is City. We have to handle our team and backroom staff and we don't have time [for] other clubs - and could not care less."
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