I’ll break Wenger’s face – Mourinho

THE deep bitterness of Jose Mourinho’s 12-year rivalry with Arsene Wenger has been sensationally exposed in a new book.

The Manchester United manager and his Arsenal counterpart have been fierce opponents since Mourinho arrived in England as Chelsea boss in 2004.

But only now can his brutal enmity towards Wenger be fully revealed.

In the book Jose Mourinho:

Up Close and Personal, author Rob Beasley reveals astonishing details of private conversations he had with the 53-yearold about Wenger, whom he once branded “a specialist in failure”.

After bickering with Wenger over Juan Mata’s £37 million transfer to United from Chelsea in 2014, Mourinho told Beasley: “I will find him one day outside a football pitch and I will break his face.”

Beasley, who was the journalist closest to Mourinho during both his spells at Stamford Bridge, insists that he thought the Portuguese’s words were bluster.

Beasley also reveals that Mourinho claimed that an unnamed Arsenal player had texted him the day after Wenger’s team beat Manchester City in January last year to tell him the Gunners coach had had nothing to do with the result.

The timing of the revelations is embarrassing for Mourinho because the football world is preparing to celebrate Wenger’s 20th anniversary since joining Arsenal.

United’s executives will also be uncomfortable because this is the type of baggage they feared might come with Mourinho when they hired him to replace Louis van Gaal.

Mourinho will face questions about the book at a time when he is under pressure after the three defeats that preceded Wednesday’s English League Cup win at Northampton.

To add to his discomfort will be a claim in the book that he referred to United captain Wayne Rooney as “Fat Boy” while trying to sign him for Chelsea in 2013.

Mourinho will be asked about Rooney’s form and also about his public criticism of left back Luke Shaw after last week’s defeat at Watford.

Mourinho could have entered the race to sign Shaw from Southampton in the summer of 2014, but Beasley claims in his book that he told him: “He is too expensive for his quality.”

Elsewhere in the book, Mourinho gives an insight into what irritates him.

“There is something I really hate: if you get mistakes because of the unpredictability of the game, okay, that’s the game. But when you know the opponent does this – this is the way they play, this is the way they create – and you are going to make a mistake on something which you have worked on, you feel powerless and I’m not happy. I feel betrayed because of the work you did.”

Wenger said yesterday that he had no intention of reading the biography, instead insisting that he had no issues with anyone in the sport, reports Sam Morshwead

“I’m not in a destructive mood. Never,” said Wenger ahead of Arsenal’s clash with Chelsea in the Premier League today. “I’m more constructive and I cannot comment on that because I’m focused on tomorrow’s game and the way we want to play football.

“I have no personal problem with anybody, I respect everybody in our game and I don’t feel I comment a lot on other teams.”

He added: “I personally am just focused on just doing well in my job and respecting everybody else.” – Daily Mail

LONDON: Claudio Ranieri has become the latest Premier League manager to bury the hatchet with Jose Mourinho, with the Italian describing his feud with the Manchester United boss as “prehistoric” before Leicester City’s trip to Old Trafford today.

The Portuguese called Ranieri “a loser” when he replaced him at Chelsea during his first stint in England, and their relationship deteriorated further when they were both managing in Serie A in Italy.

Ranieri, who led rank outsiders Leicester to a title triumph last season, insisted the past was dead and buried and he was willing to share a glass of wine with Mourinho after the game.

“It’s prehistoric,” he said. “It was a long time ago… I love red wine, and if he offers I will go and drink it with him.”

Mourinho’s third stint in the English top flight has already seen a cessation of personal hostilities with Manchester City’s Pep Guardiola and Watford’s Walter Mazzarri.

Guardiola’s relationship with Mourinho was stretched to breaking point when they were in charge of Barcelona and Real Madrid respectively. The Portuguese described Mazzarri as a hard-working donkey when the two were rivals in Italy.

Ranieri, whose team trail seventh-placed United by two points, also defended Mourinho’s public criticism of his players in the wake of United’s 3-1 defeat at Watford last Sunday.

“He is a great manager, intelligent and a fantastic person,” Ranieri said. “Every manager has his rule book and sometimes you need to do this (criticise).

“Sometimes, maybe not here, but at another team, also I push to provoke the reaction of the player. There’s always a psychology.” – Reuters