‘I would say to Jose’ - Pep Guardiola hits back at Mourinho’s ‘won fairly’ dig as war of words escalates
The old rivals have renewed their feud this week with a series of back-and-forth jibes at each other.
Pep Guardiola added Jose Mourinho to the list of those who want to see Manchester City relegated on Friday and reminded his old foe that the team are ‘innocent until proven guilty’, as the managers’ newly renewed rivalry was dialed up a notch.
The former Real Madrid and Barcelona bosses have a long-standing feud which has sparked into life again this week in the wake of City’s defeat at Liverpool. Guardiola held six fingers up to the Anfield crowd - in reference to the six Premier League titles he has won - an action that drew comparisons with Mourinho during his time at Manchester United.
Asked about it during the week, Guardiola responded by claiming that ‘he [Mourinho] won three, I won six’ Premier League titles, comments that many took as a slight against the now Fenerbahce boss.
Mourinho, in typically provocative style, hit back on Friday with a dig at Guardiola regarding City’s ongoing 115 Premier League charges and claimed he won his titles ‘cleanly’, an irony not lost on some given he was bankrolled by Roman Abramovich at Chelsea, the club’s former owner who was sanctioned by the UK government following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Chelsea are also currently being investigated by the Premier League for potential breaches of football rules, with secret payments made by companies belonging to Abramovich coming to light after the club were purchased by Todd Boehly in 2022. Nonetheless, Mourinho said: “I want to win, but I want to win cleanly and fairly. If I can't win cleanly, I'd rather lose.
“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 war of words took a fresh twist on Friday, with Guardiola asked about his adversary’s remarks.
“It was a joke. But he’s another one in the huge list that they want the team in League One or the Conference, said the Catalan, who last month claimed 75 percent of Premier League clubs want to see City relegated. “I would say to Jose the same: We are innocent until proven guilty. After that we will see what happens. It is what it is, it was completely a joke.
“Both with our teams, him with Chelsea and me with Man City, we can sit at the table with Sir Alex Ferguson and Arsene Wenger. For the many many titles we won. And I’m pretty sure soon they will congratulate us.”
It’s the second press conference in row that Guardiola has responded to a ‘joke’ from an opposition manager - having previously been asked about Arne Slot’s comments about the Premier League charges. Jokes, it seems, are very much on brand for Guardiola press conferences at present.
“I spoke [about] my joke. The joke from Arne Slot is his business, not my business. I’m talking about what I said,” he said. “If I have offended him [Jose] I’m so sorry, but it was a joke. The fact is he has three and I have six. This is a fact. But the intention was completely fine.
“It is another one in the huge list in this country and more around the world that want us at the bottom. It’s okay, it’s fine. I’ve said many times, wait for the sentence and everyone, especially in democracy, is innocent until proven guilty. We’ll wait, and after we’ll see.”
Guardiola and Mourinho’s strife dates back to their time spent together under Sir Bobby Robson at Barcelona. After beating Mourinho to the manager’s role at the Nou Camp in 2008, Guardiola was then dumped out of the Champions League by the Portuguese in 2010, with the then Inter Milan boss sprinting onto the pitch in celebration.
The feud escalated during their time in La Liga when Real and Barca were perhaps the best teams in the world. Guardiola snapped during a run of four meetings in 18 days and said in an expletive rant he could not ‘compete’ with Mourinho in press conferences. During several bad-tempered clashes between the teams, Mourinho infamously poked Barcelona assistant Tito Vilanova in the eye and years later would claim Guardiola doesn’t enjoy football because he is bald.
Tensions eased somewhat when they were both in Manchester, but the recent mud slinging demonstrates that this rivalry is still simmering under the surface.