Football manager extraordinaire Pep Guardiola has compellingly claimed his fourth Premier League title in six seasons as Manchester City edged out Liverpool for domestic glory in a thrilling cliffhanger sizzling with an unrestrained Steven Gerrard Villa side threatening to pull the plug on the Sky Blues\u2019 title challenge from the get-go.<\/p>\n
And while the resourceful Spaniard most consider to be the best manager in football has again pipped his toughest rival in the current football landscape, his latest trophy acquisition has also given him bragging rights over his longtime nemesis \u2013 Jose Mourinho.<\/p>\n
The latter won three Premier League titles in two spells with Chelsea but<\/p>\n
Guardiola\u2019s fourth league title in England means he has now eclipsed the Portuguese\u2019s achievement. The 51-year-old\u2019s Etihad side have broken numerous records including being the only team to win 100 league points during a campaign.<\/p>\n
Guardiola is also the first and only manager to win the domestic treble in English football after Klopp came up short in the league again this time around.<\/p>\n
There have been spicy tales spun about the way in which Mourinho purportedly put an end to his time in Spain, hence the Spaniard\u2019s latest Premier League trophy would now be especially satisfying for him to successfully overhaul the Portuguese\u2019s success in England.<\/p>\n
The Mourinho-Guardiola rivalry reached its heights when the Portuguese was at Real Madrid and Guardiola was at Barcelona, although the origins were already in place before that.<\/p>\n
Both being two of football\u2019s greatest managers, Mourinho led Inter Milan between 2008-10 to take on reigning European champions Barcelona in the semi-finals of the 2009\/10 Champions League, with cup holders Barca then being favorites to win, after\u00a0having claimed a win and a draw when the two sides met in the group stages during Pep and Jose\u2019s first meetings as managers but things didn\u2019t quite pan out as expected.<\/p>\n
Inter won the first leg 3-1 and the ten-man squad managed to persevere their way into the final despite a 1-0 defeat at the Nou Camp.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is the most beautiful defeat of my life,\u201d Mourinho said after. \u201cIt is a style of blood not skill. We were a team of heroes.\u201d<\/p>\n
Inter clung on tenaciously and went on on to win the Champions League and equal Barcelona\u2019s 2008\/09 achievement of winning a treble, which subsequently led to Real Madrid calling upon the Portuguese to serve as their new manager.<\/p>\n
The following years saw a fierce rivalry developing between the two managers, with reports of scandalous incidents including eye-gouging and hair jibes. Understandably, with the likes of a feisty, fiery Mourinho in the thick of the action, the reports may contain some vestige of truth!<\/p>\n
When Mourinho finally ended Guardiola\u2019s spectacular run of three LaLiga titles, the Spaniard finally decided it was high time to step away from football and opted for a one-year sabbatical.<\/p>\n
This is where Gerard Pique, who played under Guardiola at Barcelona, believes it was the Portuguese rival\u2019s mind-games that were a leading factor for the Spaniard deciding to call time temporarily on his career.<\/p>\n
Pique claimed Guardiola needed a break after his intense battles with Mourinho. Speaking to Gary Neville\u2019s Overlap\u00a0podcast, Pique said: \u201cWe were winning everything at the time and I remember that the first time Mourinho came to Camp Nou he lost 5-0 against us.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was a shock of reality that these guys are going hard, but in the press conferences every time he was, you know his style, and I think that for Guardiola at some point it was too much.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was more important sometimes what happened off the pitch than on the pitch. Guardiola left.<\/p>\n
\u201cMadrid won the league that year and all of a sudden he decided to leave for so many reasons, but I am sure part of it was because with Mourinho it got too much.\u201d<\/p>\n
After his New York City sabbatical and a subsequently rejuvenating spell at Bayern Munich, Guardiola arrived refreshed at Man City where he outlasted Mourinho twice as the latter underwent ill-fated stints at Manchester United and Tottenham.<\/p>\n
And although unintentional, yet still adding insult to injury nonetheless, Guardiola has recently claimed Jurgen Klopp is the rival he\u2019ll always remember as the man who posed the greatest challenges in his unchequered career. That would surely come as a stinging insult to Mourinho.<\/p>\n
\u201cJurgen, as a manager, has been the biggest rival I\u2019ve ever had in my career and I think what both teams propose is good for football,\u201d he said last month.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe point is not a jibe to Jose.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe is an exciting manager and I was his rival but I\u2019ve been here five years and played many more times against Liverpool.<\/p>\n
\u201cExcept the year we made 100 points, the rest were tight. It is because they are good and hopefully they think we are good too.<\/p>\n
\u201cI will remember my period here, when I\u2019m retired watching and playing golf, I\u2019ll remember my biggest rival was Liverpool, for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n
As a final note of interest, regardless of whoever was\/is, Guardiola\u2019s biggest rival ultimately, there\u2019s no denying he got the better of the both of them \u2013 another notable achievement in his glittering CV.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"