Jose Mourinho vs Pep Guardiola – The Rivalry

Posted on September 9, 2016 by Sreya

As the 2016/17 English Premier League season starts gaining momentum, football fans across the globe are looking forward to the highly anticipated Manchester derby when Jose Mourinho and Pep Guardiola come face to face once again this weekend.

The infamous rivalry between these two legendary managers has found its own folklore in the history of football as these two have come across each other on sixteen different occasions.

Although both men find each other on opposite spectrum of football ideology today, it started at FC Barcelona under Sir Bobby Robson when Jose Mourinho was a translator and Pep Guardiola a first-team regular.

Having found success across Europe, the arrival of both Jose Mourinho and Pep Guardiola at Manchester earlier this season has taken the fanaticism surrounding the Manchester derby to a completely different level. In recent years, Manchester City have established themselves as a Premier League powerhouse and are making inroads towards being an European power to be reckoned with.

The local derby which has always witnessed fierce rivalry has gained even more significance among fans of both sides in the last few seasons. According to Head-2-Head statistics, Manchester City have won five of the last ten matches played between these two sides in all competitions and with the influx of new players this summer, Manchester United will be looking to regain their lost foothold.

Jose Mourinho’s arrival at Old Trafford followed by some of the biggest names in world football, most notably Paul Pogba and Zlatan Ibrahimovic has put the struggling United back on the map for the first time since Alex Ferguson’s retirement. Manchester City, on the other hand, finally convinced Pep Guardiola to join them in a bid to make them European champions.

Among the sixteen matches in which Jose Mourinho and Pep Guardiola faced each other, the Spaniard has won seven games and lost only thrice. Although Jose Mourinho lags behind in the head-2-head record, one of his most notable wins came during his time at Inter Milan when the underdog Italian side defeated one of the best Barcelona squads in history through an exemplary display of determination and tactics.

While the result of the Manchester derby is unlikely to play a role in deciding the eventual English Premier League champion, a positive result for either side will hand over the bragging rights to not only the fans of both clubs, but also to either manager for days to come.

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