Manchester City and Tottenham Hotspur will play in the English League Cup final on April 25, but before that they will face off this Saturday in the Premier League, in the 25th duel between their strategists, Josep Guardiola and José Mourinho , a rivalry that was born 12 years ago.
Beyond the attractive duel on the court between Manchester City, leaders of the Premier League, and Tottenham, which is 14 points, the real protagonists will be Josep Guardiola and José Mourinho, who have faced each other on 24 occasions as strategists, with a slight advantage for Guardiola, who has won 10 and lost 7, in one of the biggest rivalries of current football in technical management.
He won on penalties
This rivalry began in 2009, during a tough tie between Inter Milan and Barcelona. And, without a doubt, he gave away great matches when they faced each other as coaches of Barcelona and Real Madrid in three intense seasons.
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Now they continue their confrontation in England, without the same resentment, but with the bitter memories of those duels of the last decade.
So far, Guardiola has beaten Mourinho ten times, by seven victories for the Portuguese, the last two in a row, since leading to Tottenham, which is the best personal streak of Mourinho in their clashes in front of Guardiola.
We remember his five duels that started the rivalry
INTER 0-0 BARCELONA
Their first match as coaches was on September 16, 2009, in the group stage of the Champions League. Inter and Barcelona drew 0-0 in Milan. It was his reunion after meeting at Can Barça, one as Bobby Rodson’s assistant and the other as a player. It all started with mutual praise. “Hopefully Guardiola will be Barça’s coach forever,” but in reality Mourinho had resented Guardiola winning his race for the Barcelona bench in the summer of 2008. The storm was about to begin.
BARCELONA 1-0 INTER
The fire starts. In the first leg of the Champions League semi-finals, Inter won 3-1 with goals from Sneijder, Maicon and Milito, while Pedro beat Barcelona. Mourinho lit the wick: “For us, the Bernabeu final is an illusion; for them, an obsession.” The return game gave away the scene known as ‘The Night of the Sprinklers’. Mourinho, despite falling 1-0, ended up running for the Camp Nou.
BARCELONA 5-0 REAL MADRID
The reunion between Pep and Mou maintains a morbidity impossible to forget.
EPA
The Classics arrived consecutively and the rivalry grew stronger. That is why the press conference prior to the first leg of the Semifinals was one of the rarest. Mourinho said: “So far we have had two groups of coaches, one very small, who does not talk about referees, and a bigger one in who I am and who criticizes referees when they comment on important mistakes. Now the new one begins. it was, with a third group, just the Guardiola form: the group criticizing the referee’s success, something I had never seen in the world of football in my life. “
Guardiola’s press conference and his response were for posterity. “As he has tutored me I will do the same. Tomorrow we will face the field at 20:45; he has already beaten me off the field. I give him his particular Champions off the field, let him enjoy it and take it in this room he is the fucking boss, the fucking master and i don’t want to compete at any moment i just remind him that we’ve been together four years he knows me and i know him if he wants to stay with florentino Pérez’s friends and the dairy plant, but I’ve worked with it for four years. ”
Barcelona won 0-2 at the Bernabéu, with the controversial expulsion of Pepe. The return match ended 1-1, with more controversy and the elimination of Real Madrid against Guardiola.
BARCELONA 3-2 REAL MADRID
One of the most embarrassing episodes of this rivalry. The first leg of the Spanish Super Cup ended 2-2, and on the return leg Barcelona won the title with a goal from Messi in the 88th minute. But at the end of the match there is a confrontation on the bench after a hard entry from Marcelo, who is sent off. In the confusion, Mourinho put his finger in Tito Vilanova’s eye. Mourinho continued his show: “Pito Vilanova? I don’t know who this Pito is. Let the one who saw him or the fourth referee speak.”Source