Mourinho Takes Brutal Swipe at Guardiola
In his Netflix documentary, José Mourinho didn't miss the chance to send a sharp message to long-time rival Pep Guardiola, calling his coaching break a sign of weakness.
In his Netflix documentary, José Mourinho didn't miss the chance to send a sharp message to long-time rival Pep Guardiola, calling his coaching break a sign of weakness.
The eternal rivalry between José Mourinho and Pep Guardiola has a new chapter. The Real Madrid coach, in his new Netflix documentary "Mourinho," directed an undisguised criticism at his long-time adversary, calling his decision to take a break from football "a sign of weakness."
Guardiola took a year off after leaving Barcelona in 2012 before taking over at Bayern, and he repeated the same after the end of his ten-year tenure at Manchester City. Mourinho has no understanding for such a move.
"Some need a year off, and I hate that. I hate that word. For me, a year off means weakness. Don't talk to me about it. I never need a rest. I'll rest when I die," Mourinho said in the documentary.
The Portuguese further clarified his stance in an interview with The Sun, where he stated: "Some people need a long break, which is something I hate. I hate that word. For me, rest means weakness. Don't talk to me about rests. I never need a rest. I'll rest when God decides."
Unlike Guardiola, who is currently without a job after his chance to become Italy's head coach fell through, the 63-year-old Mourinho cannot imagine life without football. In the documentary, he revealed that he sees himself on the touchline for at least another ten years, and maybe longer.
"I can't even imagine when I'll stop being involved in football. I say another ten years, but maybe more than ten. It's fun. It was fun, it is fun, and it will always be fun," Mourinho said, adding that he wants to win new trophies in places where he already has and where he hasn't been yet.
Describing his passion, Mourinho emphasized that his world is exclusively on the pitch in front of tens of thousands of fans. "My world is walking into a stadium in front of 50 or 90 thousand people. I've had 100,000 too. That's my world. Without football, I feel like something is missing," he stated.
Although he admits that football is everything to him, Mourinho does not consider it an obsession. "When you reach a certain level, you simply want to stay there forever," concluded the coach, who returned to Real Madrid this summer on a three-year contract.
His words resonate especially in the context of the legendary rivalry with Guardiola, which peaked while they managed Real Madrid and Barcelona from 2010 to 2013. Although they were colleagues at Barcelona in the 1990s, their relationship grew into one of the fiercest rivalries in modern football, and it seems Mourinho, even after all these years, doesn't miss an opportunity to send a message to his old rival.
