Five Times Jose Mourinho Has Clashed With Rival Premier League Managers

David Tully

3 years ago

Categories: Galleries, Manchester United News

Tags: Arsenal, Chelsea, Jose Mourinho, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United, Spurs

Following Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s clash with Tottenham boss Jose Mourinho at the weekend, we thought it would be a good idea to look back at previous altercations involving the Portuguese manager.

The former Chelsea and United boss is no stranger to attacking rival coaches and he has arguably stepped over the line with his comments on a number of occasions.

Mourinho isn’t one for holding back when he feels he has been personally slighted and his stinging criticisms of others are pretty memorable.

Press the next page as we list five times Mourinho has clashed with rival managers.

Mourinho v Benitez

The rivalry between Chelsea and Liverpool reached boiling point following the ‘ghost goal’ that saw the Reds progress past the Blues in the 2004/05 Champions League.

After Mourinho left Stamford Bridge in 2008, following two Premier League title wins, the Portuguese said of his Spanish rival:

“How many championships has Benitez won since he joined Liverpool? None. And how many names were suggested by the press to replace him? None.”

Mourinho v Wenger

Mourinho’s rivalry with the Arsenal coach came to a head during the 2013/14 season. Wenger had accused rival club managers of playing down their chances of winning the title, stating they had a “fear to fail.”

Interpreting it as a veiled dig towards him, with Chelsea one point above the Gunners in the table, Mourinho unleashed a vitriolic criticism of Wenger’s lack of recent success:

“He’s a specialist in failure. If I do that in Chelsea, eight years, I leave and don’t come back.”

Mourinho v Conte

There is very little love lost between the two former Chelsea managers. It all started when Conte celebrated too enthusiastically for Mourinho’s liking after his Chelsea side beat Mourinho’s United 4-0.

It then led to a back and forth between the pair in the press, with Mourinho criticising Conte for his defensive approach, leading the Italian to question the Portuguese’s ability to last more than two years at a club. That resulted in a stinging riposte from Mourinho who made a personal attack on Conte’s decision to have a hair transplant:

“I could answer in many different ways. But I’m not going to lose my hair to speak about Antonio Conte.”

Mourinho v Guardiola

Strangely enough, despite the intense rivalry, which stems all the way back to when Guardiola was a player at Barcelona, and Mourinho was the assistant manager, neither person has actually resorted to personal attacks on each other.

The closest Mourinho got to a real clash with Guardiola was during the unsavoury scenes following City’s 2-1 win at Old Trafford in 2017. Mourinho reportedly squared up to Ederson in the tunnel and questioned the lack of respect that some City players showed. He also questioned their performance, stating:

“You expect City to score great goals, not to score two disgraceful goals. They had apparent control but the biggest save is the double save of Ederson.”

Mourinho v Solskjaer

The latest spat was arguably started by Solskjaer, having criticised Son Heung-Min for the way he went down before a United goal was disallowed at the weekend.

Following Solskjaer’s remarks that he wouldn’t have given his son any dinner if he had play acted in a match the same way Son had, Mourinho replied:

“I just want to say that Sonny is very lucky that his father is a better person than Ole. I am a father. I think as a father you have always to feed your kids. Doesn’t matter what they do. If you have to steal to feed your kids, you steal. I’m very, very disappointed. As we say in Portugal, bread is bread and cheese is cheese. I told Ole already what I think about his comments.”