Man City vs Man Utd: What happened to 'The Disease'?

Guardiola rivalry could derail Man Utd, warns Jose Mourinho

1 June

Jose Mourinho has vowed not to let any feelings of personal enmity against Pep Guardiola distract him from the job of rebuilding Manchester United.

Speaking in Portugal after attending a lecture at Lisbon University, the newly-appointed boss of the Red Devils promised he would be focusing only on Old Trafford and ignoring events at Manchester City, even though, as Sky Sports points out, Mourinho and Guardiola, the Sky Blues' new manager, "share a history of animosity" dating back to their time in charge of Spanish giants Barcelona and Real Madrid.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

Guardiola turned Barcelona into the dominant club in Europe during his four years as manager at the Camp Nou and the Spaniard has arrived at the Etihad determined to do the same for Manchester City.

A bitter feud erupted with Mourinho towards the end of his reign and the arrival of the former Real Madrid coach at Old Trafford, with a similar brief to Guardiola's at City, sets the pair on a collision course that should prove entertaining, if a little unedifying, next season.

But Mourinho was keen to play down the rivalry on Tuesday, telling his audience of football coaches in Lisbon: "My experience does not allow me to be naive. For two years Pep and I were in a league where the champion would be either me or him, Real Madrid or Barcelona.

"In a situation like this, individual fights make sense because they can influence things. But in the Premier League, if I focus on him and Manchester City, and he on me and Manchester United, someone else is going to win the league."

Mourinho has also had his fair share of run-ins with Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger over the years while in charge of Chelsea, and The Sun notes that Leicester boss Claudio Rainieri is another who's clashed with the self-styled Special One in the past.

The pair will be relishing the opportunity to defeat Mourinho's Manchester United when the new season starts, a point the Portuguese acknowledged.

“The level of the Premier League is going to get better with the players and coaches who will come," he said. "Four [different] champions in four years shows how competitive it is, and also says a lot about the television rights and its distribution, which will allow the growth of the league and all its teams. It is different to other leagues."

Mourinho vs Guardiola: 'The Disease' comes to Manchester

24 May

"The Disease" is coming to Manchester - and football fans cannot wait.

Jose Mourinho's appointment as United's new manager, which is expected to be confirmed this week, will put him on collision course with his nemesis, Pep Guardiola, who takes over at City this summer.

The pair have been bitter rivals for almost a decade, but their feud became the stuff of legend between 2010 and 2012, when they were in charge of Real Madrid and Barcelona in Spain.

"The bad blood between the two great coaches became so toxic that the Spanish press took to calling it 'The Disease,'" reports the Manchester Evening News.

The resumption of hostilities promises "high drama in Manchester, where the two managers will be separated by just four miles, as opposed to 380 miles in Spain".

Last season's substandard performances are sure to be forgotten as the fog of war descends on the city, placing it at the centre of the football universe.

"Following the monotony of United's football under Louis van Gaal and the grey presence of Manuel Pellegrini at City, things are about to get very interesting again," Chris Wheeler of the Daily Mail says.

Mourinho and Guardiola meet for the first time in July, in a pre-season "friendly" at the Bird's Nest Stadium in Beijing. "It is a peculiar setting for a Manchester derby, yet somehow appropriate given the global interest in the Premier League and what is sure to be a captivating battle between two vastly contrasting characters," Wheeler adds.

Watching the two men will be "pure box office", he continues: "It has the potential to dwarf the rivalry between these clubs in the late 60s and early 70s - when City were in their pomp and United had just won the European Cup - and more recently when the noisy neighbours first got under Sir Alex Ferguson's skin."

There is a sense of inevitability about it, says Sid Lowe in The Guardian. "It almost feels as if it had to be this way; that once City got Guardiola, United had to get his arch enemy, a counter-reaction for every reaction; as if this was a decision driven by personality and status. Opposites who attract."

But will it live up to the billing? Mourinho waged a "war" on the Catalan side while he was in charge of Real and the ferocity of their rivalry took its toll on both men. Barcelona star Andres Iniesta is not alone in believing that it ended up damaging Spanish football.

"There may be excitement about the two men meeting again in Manchester but by the end of the battle for Spain, it was largely tiresome and unpleasant," Lowe says. "Perhaps a different environment, different teams, different demands, will change that. Or perhaps not."

It will be interesting to see if they have "the appetite for a bloody re-match", says James Ducker of the Daily Telegraph. But it may "prove unavoidable" if Mourinho cannot resist the urge to antagonise Guardiola.

And this time, The Disease could take hold in Manchester, where there is already animosity between the clubs and the rivalry goes beyond the managers.

City are run by Ferran Soriano and Txiki Begiristain, who chose Guardiola over Mourinho for the Barcelona job in 2008. That will only "deepen Mourinho's competitive edge", says Ducker.

"And if Zlatan Ibrahimovic, the Sweden striker who has no love for Guardiola either, ends up partnering Mourinho in Manchester next season, as seems likely, sparks really could fly."