30th August, 2013
The managers of Chelsea and Bayern Munich carry a load of bitter baggage into the Super Cup in Prague tonight.
No sooner had Arjen Robben scored the winner at Wembley than the Dutch grasped the true meaning of his goal. Bayern Munich had won the European Cup, just as Chelsea had claimed the Europa League. This was massive: the greatest, most attractive talents and the fiercest of grudge matches. The biggest rivals would meet in the European Super Cup final in Prague. No, not Chelsea vs. Bayern; José Mourinho v Pep Guardiola. The translator and the ballboy, face to face once more.
The pair clashed repeatedly when Guardiola was in charge at Barcelona and Mourinho at Real Madrid. And the dislike and distrust between two of the footballing world’s leading coaches was bitter and very public.
And when it was pointed out to Mourinho last night that he has won only three of 15 meetings with Guardiola, he angrily reeled off a list of statistics to prove he was better – but got them spectacularly wrong.
Mourinho insisted: “Your statistics are wrong for a start. Very wrong.
“Go back and see what happened. I won the Champions League semi-final with Inter Milan. Look at my league record in Spain – I was a champion. I won the Copa del Rey in Spain, and the Super Cup.
“People are very, very wrong. But it’s not important. This is not about me versus Pep, it’s club against club. That stuff is not important.
“Maybe you are right and I am wrong, but I don’t care. It’s not important for me.”
At one stage last night, Mourinho, normally known to be a stickler for accuracy and meticulous in his coaching and preparation, pointed to the Chelsea badge on his shirt and said: “This game is about Chelsea and Bayern.
“Pep is not a European champion with Bayern and I’m not the Europa League champion at Chelsea.
“Those things happened with other people at each club last year. We are just here now, coaching these teams.”
Guardiola said: “I have lots of respect for Jose Mourinho’s career. But the record between us is history.”