Jose Mourinho’s nine-word remark whispered into Pep Guardiola’s ear sums him up

Jose Mourinho made a point of being a pain to the opposition during his time at Chelsea, Real Madrid, Inter Milan, Manchester United and Tottenham.

Jose Mourinho has never been one to hold himself back throughout his managerial career, as supporters of the teams he has managed can attest to. The Portuguese head coach announced himself to the Premier League by dubbing himself the ‘special one’ during his Chelsea unveiling in 2004 and he has rarely stopped making headlines since.

After two titles in England, he then moved to Inter Milan, where Mourinho’s feud with Pep Guardiola began. The duo provided fireworks in several El Clasico matches after Mourinho moved to Real Madrid, but in 2010 one comment may have instigated their long-standing back and forth.

Mourinho had guided Inter to a 3-1 victory over Barcelona at the San Siro in the first leg of their Champions League semi-final but faced a difficult prospect at the Nou Camp when Thiago Motta had been sent off after 28 minutes. The La Liga side, reigning holders of the trophy, had been given an advantage and Mourinho noticed that the Barcelona bench had already started celebrating as if they had overcome their 2-0 deficit.

“When Sergio Busquets fell almost knocked out, I was diagonally between our bench, his [Guardiola’s] and the place where Motta was sent off,” Mourinho told La Gazzetta dello Sport. “Out of the corner of my eye I saw the Barcelona bench celebrating it as if Guardiola had already won, calling [Zlatan] Ibrahimovic to give instructions.”