It all started when Manuel Pellegrini, after just one season in charge of Real Madrid, was replaced by José Mourinho. Two antagonistic styles of understanding football and life, a sort of Menotti-Bilardo in a modern version. And of course, they clashed.
The Portuguese started the controversy, perhaps in an attempt to intimidate his predecessor, when Los Blancos faced Málaga. "I would never coach a team like Málaga. If Madrid kick me out, I won't go to Málaga but to a big club in Italy or England," Mou said contemptuously in the run-up to that match.
True, the most the Andalusian side had ever achieved was to play in the now defunct UEFA Cup many years before. But a few months before that clash they had been bought by a Qatari sheikh, millions of euros arrived and they convinced Pellegrini to create a Champions League project. In a season and a half he achieved it. It was already a different Málaga, aspiring to almost everything. "I am very proud to manage Málaga in the situation they are in and I have no regrets," the Chilean responded politely.
Verbal clashes in the Premier League
The controversy did not stop there. In England, where Pellegrini managed Manchester City prior to Guardiola and Mourinho coached Chelsea, they also had their ups and downs with their wars of words. In a duel between their sides in the 13/14 season, the Londoners won with a stoppage-time goal from Fernando Torres. Mou's celebration was considered excessive and disrespectful to his rival. "I didn't shake his hand because I didn't want to," the Chilean admitted. "If you think I've done something wrong, I apologise," the Portuguese replied, not without a hint of derision on that occasion.
Months later, the controversy would be fanned again. And it would be El Ingeniero who would unleash the hostilities. "Chelsea play like a small team," he said on one occasion. Later he criticised the Blues' transfer spending after another defeat against them. Mourinho did not hold back. "I don't think an engineer needs a calculator to see that we have had a surplus of 28 million between sales and purchases," he said, referencing the degree his enemy holds.
Far from putting out that fire, the war continued. "I'm always the bad guy and then there are the polite ones," Mou complained to reporters in clear reference to Pellegrini himself and also to Arsene Wenger, who managed Arsenal. The ball was returned on another occasion by the current Betis coach: "He thinks that his way of doing things is better because if he wins, he gets all the credit, but if he loses, he takes no responsibility".
Will there be a new chapter this Thursday in the Europa League?
