It is generally believed that any manager who has served a big side during his career would have been the top performer mentoring the side that is why he often recalls his memories leading the top notch sides he has served in the past whenever he is asked to in future. But many times it is not so no matter how successful he has been leading the big sides, it is the respect he earned that empowers him to recalls his glorious time he spent with the side.
Manchester United current manager José Mourinho is one such manager who has served several top notching sides during his fruitful career filled with tons of titles from around the world. But did he as well earn the respect is a much bigger question and those who know him don’t agree that he has been an equally respected mentor on any of his assignments thanks to his outspoken behavior that used to bring him into the headlines for wrong reasons. Among the top sides he has served in the past, Real Madrid is on the top where he spent some three years and during those years, though he was successful in the field but his verbal fights with Barcelona manager Pep Guardiola made him a mischief maker.
Now when both of them are again in front of each other leading two arch rivals of the Manchester, same thing seems to have been repeating. Perhaps, if we talk about what Real players used to think about Mourinho during his reign at Santiago Bernabéu, Pepe is the first one to openly lambast Portuguese way of dealing with opponents. Recalling those three seasons when Mourinho was in charge of their side, he said in an interview, “Under Mourinho, people hated us when we got out there. It lasted three years and thank God it went very quick. Things changed when Ancelotti came in, you could see people started treating us different again.
“What happened with Mourinho is in the past now. I was strong and got over it. I maintained my high level at Madrid. Mourinho and Zidane are very different, one could say they are opposites. But it’s not like one is bad and the other is good. Mourinho has a lot of experience as a coach, with great clubs and players. Zidane has only just started in La Liga last year. But he has played at the highest level himself and always knows what’s expected on the pitch.
“Zidane has been a player and knows what we think. He had a brilliant career at Madrid, so understands what the pressure is like here.”
Pep Guardiola: CosminIftode / Shutterstock.com