After exchanging barbed comments about their Premier League titles, Manchester City coach Pep Guardiola seemed to back off a bit in response to José Mourinho’s sharp remarks. Reacting to Mourinho’s comments, Guardiola “surrendered” and stated that his controversial remark was made in jest.
The incident started last week. After Manchester City lost 2-0 to Liverpool at Anfield, their sixth consecutive match without a win, Liverpool supporters in the stands sang and chanted about Guardiola’s future, saying, “You’ll be sacked by tomorrow morning…” In response, Guardiola raised six fingers toward the crowd, signaling the six league titles he had won with City.
Mourinho, while managing Manchester United and struggling during a difficult time, had previously raised three fingers to opposing fans to signify his three Premier League titles won with Chelsea. After a 2018 loss to Liverpool, Mourinho was sacked from his position at United.
Following the loss to Liverpool, Guardiola was asked if he might meet the same fate as Mourinho. He replied, “I hope that won’t happen to me… he (Mourinho) has won three (Premier League titles), I’ve won six… but we’re the same.”
In light of the 115 financial charges brought against City from 2009 to 2018, regarding their alleged violations of Premier League financial rules, Mourinho, now at Turkish club Fenerbahçe, responded to Guardiola’s comments. He said, “I won fairly and clearly… I don’t want to win by facing 150 court cases.”
Guardiola responded to Mourinho’s comments before City’s match against Crystal Palace on Saturday, stating that his earlier comments were not meant with any ill intent. “If my words hurt him, I apologize. I said it as a joke. It’s true that he won three Premier League titles, and I’ve won six. That’s a fact. But I said it in a very simple way; there was no other meaning behind it.”
Guardiola continued, “I think we could sit down with our respective teams—he with Chelsea, I with Manchester City—and with Sir Alex Ferguson and Arsène Wenger, because we’ve all won many, many titles. I’m sure they will congratulate us soon, if not now, then in the future.”
After four consecutive losses in the league and seven matches without a win across all competitions, City bounced back with a 3-0 victory over Nottingham Forest last Wednesday. Now, they face the challenge of continuing their winning streak at Palace.
With 26 points from 14 matches, City currently sit in 4th place, 9 points behind league leaders Liverpool.
