Barcelona manager, icon and occasional model Pep Guardiola could never be compared to Kevin Keegan or Rafa Benitez physically. Nor would you compare his majestic Barcelona side, lauded by some as the best team ever, to Keegan’s Newcastle side or Benitez’s Liverpool team. But Guardiola’s outburst this week certainly had shades of Keegan and Benitez’s very public meltdowns ahead of vital fixtures for their teams.
Guardiola was speaking during a press conference ahead of his team’s Champions League Semi-Final first leg against Real Madrid at the Bernabeu tonight. He was responding to Jose Mourinho’s accusation that he criticised the referee for correctly ruling Barcelona’s goal during the Copa Del Rey final offside.
“In this room Mourinho is the chief, the f***ing boss. I don’t have to compete with him in here. I try not to play that game off the pitch. He is much better than me off the pitch. I represent an institution that believes this is not the best way to do things.” Guardiola was angrier than any of us had seen him before, on or off the pitch.
It is not the first time that the self-professed ‘Special One’ had got under an oppositions managers skin. In fact it’s not the first time he has got inside the head of a Barcelona manager during a Champions League campaign. Frank Rijikaard lost his usually cool head and actually threw punches following his teams’ defeat to Mourinho’s Chelsea.
Real Madrid are blessed with some world-class players but in Mourinho they have a manger that knows how to win on and off the pitch, and that includes exposing the insecurities and emotions of even the calmest managers.
This kind of psychological warfare is something that is very familiar to Manchester United fans, and their downed opponents.
Sir Alex Ferguson still holds the title of the King of mind games. Not only does he have a track record of getting under the skin of his opposite number but these tactics have a proven track record, with both Keegan and Benitez’s sides wilting under the pressure heaped upon them after their uncharacteristic outbursts.
Obviously these kind of mind games can sometimes have no effect at all or even backfire but when utilised correctly, and as expertly as Ferguson and Mourinho, what effect does it have on the players involved?
“If it affects the manager it rubs off on team 100%” Ex-Manchester United defender Phil Neville explained on Twitter. “What the boss says 24 hours before can win or lose you the game.”
If Fergie is the King of mind games then Mourinho is the rightful heir to his throne. It would appear that it is not just the Portuguese manager’s CV that sees him continually lauded as the successor at Old Trafford after Sir Alex’s reign ends.
The Real Madrid manager is still in contention to be the only manager to win the Champions League with three different clubs, a feat that looked impossible after his star-studded team were destroyed 5- 0 by Guardiola’s men at the Nou Camp in his first El Classico.
But Mourinho has bridged that gap through tactical nous and psychological pugilism since, overseeing a victory in the Copa Del Rey final and a draw in La Liga.
The purists, as they did when Ferguson goaded Keegan to the point where he made his infamous post-match rant, will claim that this jousting has no place in the game and football should do the talking.
But we are so often told that mental preparation is as important as physical preparation so surely these mind games are pivotal to the outcome of a match. After all the aim of football is to win, and winning by any means necessary is better than losing honourably. So why not gain any advantage you can within the rules of the game?
The philosopher Plato exclaimed: "There are three classes of men; lovers of wisdom, lovers of honour, and lovers of gain."
It could be argued that Ferguson and Mourinho belong in any of those three categories but their insatiable ambition and drive mean that both are willing to put aside wisdom and honour in the pursuit of gaining an advantage for their clubs.
Tonight Jose Mourinho’s mind games may not have paid off but maybe Sir Alex can teach his precocious apprentice a thing or two should Ferguson meet Guardiola and his team at Wembley.
