Jose Mourinho's fiercest managerial rivalries have tended to be with those who, in one way or another, represent an opposite of him. Pep Guardiola is the purist and the professor, Arsene Wenger the austere idealist and Roberto Mancini the Italian icon. Rafa Benitez spoke with robotic repetitiveness. Claudio Ranieri seemed a happy-go-lucky nearly man.
None of those descriptions apply to the Manchester United manager. But if his enemies are often his antithesis, Mourinho faces another who qualifies for that category on Sunday. Like Manuel Pellegrini, one of the many predecessors or successors with whom Mourinho has feuded, Claude Puel projects an unremitting greyness.