The Manchester City boss says his rivalry with the Portuguese does not compare to other famous sporting clashes such as Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier.
Pep Guardiola has moved to play down his rivalry with Jose Mourinho, insisting it is nothing like history’s great sporting battles because it is the players on the pitch who make the difference.
Guardiola’s Manchester City will face Mourinho’s United in a highly anticipated Manchester derby at Old Trafford on Saturday afternoon, the latest installment of a managerial rivalry that usually steals the headlines.
The two men worked alongside each other at Barcelona during the 1990s but their coaching careers took different paths and, since Guardiola was chosen ahead of Mourinho for the Barcleona job in 2008, their respective teams have been involved in a number of memorable clashes.