In his press conference ahead of tonight's UEFA Super Cup match between Chelsea and Bayern Munich, Jose Mourinho went to great lengths to let the media know how little he cares about his head-to-head with Pep Guardiola.
Mourinho was questioned about his record against Guardiola's Barcelona, and the fact that he only won three of their 15 encounters. However, he really didn't want to talk about it.
From the Guardian:
"Your statistics are wrong as a start," he snapped back. "Very wrong, very wrong but I don't want to discuss that because it's not important. I'll just say it's wrong. Go there and see what happened with Inter in the Champions League semi-final. The league records in Spain, the Copa del Rey in Spain, the Super Cup in Spain. You are very, very wrong. You are wrong but it's not important. It's not me against him, it's club against club That's not important."
That prompted a spluttered apology from the inquisitor, who was brandishing Uefa's statistical pack, which did, indeed, detail the 15 meetings between the managers, with Mourinho having won three times, Guardiola seven and five other matches drawn. The Portuguese, for his part, has not seen his side keep a clean sheet against a team coached by his adversary since their first meeting, a 0-0 draw between Inter and Barcelona in the Champions League group stage in 2009.
"I just know that I won the Champions League semi-final with Inter [in 2010]," continued Mourinho, his mind ticking over and realisation dawning. "I won the Spanish Cup final in Valencia [2011]. I won the Super Cup in Spain [in 2012]. I was champion in Spain [in 2011-12]. I won the match of the title in Barcelona with Real Madrid. So, I don't know … Maybe you are right and I am wrong but I don't care. It's not important for me."
There you have it...as close as you're going to see to Jose Mourinho admitting he was wrong about something. For the record, that Spanish Super Cup victory was against Tito Vilanova. But who's Pito, right Jose?
