Jose Mourinho has renewed his rivalry with Pep Guardiola by responding to the Manchester City manager comparing how many Premier League titles the pair have won.
The two worked together at Barcelona while Guardiola was a player at the LaLiga giants and Mourinho formed part of Sir Bobby Robson’s coaching staff.
They were then both under consideration for the Barca job in 2008 following the departure of Frank Rijkaard, with Mourinho tipped to get the role after establishing himself as one of Europe’s leading managers during trophy-laden stints at Porto and Chelsea.
Guardiola, however, was named as Rijkaard’s assistant despite having just a season’s experience with Barcelona’s B-team.
The former Barca captain then embarked on a period of almost unprecedented success, building perhaps the greatest club side in history. Guardiola won three LaLiga titles and two Champions Leagues among a raft of other cup trophies during an era-defining four year stint.
Mourinho, however, would push his great rival all the way.
Reportedly stung by Barca’s decision to overlook him in 2008, the self-proclaimed ‘Special One’ knocked Guardiola out of the Champions League with Inter Milan in 2010 and celebrated wildly, earning him a move to Barca’s great rivals Real Madrid.
The rivalry continued and intensified in Spain and Mourinho won LaLiga in 2012 before Guardiola departed and took a year out of the game before joining Bayern Munich in 2013.
Guardiola and Mourinho would meet again in Manchester when they move to City and United respectively, although the relationship seemingly became more cordial.
Still, Guardiola’s antics on the touchline during City’s loss to Liverpool earlier this month saw him compared to Mourinho. In the midst of a seven-game winless run, Guardiola responded to chants of ‘You’re getting sacked in the morning’ by holding up six fingers in reference to the number of League titles he’s lifted at City.
Mourinho had previously held up three fingers while in charge of United to remind critics of the success he enjoyed at Chelsea.
Put to him that his actions evoked memories of Mourinho, Guardiola last week said: “He won three, I won six.
“But we are the same like that.”
Mourinho, now in charge of Turkish giants Fenerbahçe, issued a response and seemingly referenced Manchester City’s legal case against the Premier League: “'Guardiola said something to me yesterday. He won six trophies and I won three, but I won fairly and cleanly.
'If I lost, I want to congratulate my opponent because he was better than me. I don't want to win by dealing with 150 lawsuits [the 115 charges facing City].”
