Jose plays down Pep’s ‘mistake’ in Pogba claim

Lonodon – Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho denied any rift with Manchester City rival Pep Guardiola, but believes his counterpart made a mistake in claiming he had been offered the chance to sign Paul Pogba by the player’s agent on the eve of Saturday’s Manchester derby.

Pogba (right) put a desperately diappointing season so far behind him by scoring twice to inspire an incredible United comeback from 2-0 down to win 3-2 at the Etihad and prevent City from sealing the Premier League title in the process.

Just a day earlier, Guardiola said that Pogba’s agent Mino Raiola – who has repeatedly criticised Guardiola since another of his clients, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, struggled in one season under the Catalan at Barcelona – had offered him the chance to buy Pogba and former United midfielder Henrikh Mkhitaryan in January.

“I also make mistakes. There is no problem,” said Mourinho when quizzed whether Guardiola had over-stepped the mark by commenting on speculation about one of his players.

“We know the Guardiola-Mino relation is not the best so it is normal that sometimes they can come with a little touch on each other.

“But I was not worried about it, upset about it, I didn’t speak with Paul about it, I didn’t call Mino to ask anything at all.

“I was just focused on the game and I think Paul the same because the way he played is only possible when he is focused on the game.”

Often been dropped by Mourinho for United’s biggest games this season, Pogba showed the threat he can pose when freed up from the defensive duties often imposed by the Portuguese.

“We knew we had to score goals, we were losing 2-0,” said Pogba, who also claimed watching City win the title in the derby would have been “like a death” for United fans. –