He’s behind you! Milk, flying pizza prove respect has gone
AS THE pantomime season moved into full swing, it was quite apt that Jose Mourinho and Pep Guardiola slipped easily into their “bad guy– good guys” roles yesterday.
It was very much a case ‘Oh yes you did!’ from the Machiavellian Mourinho and ‘Oh no we didn’t!’ from ‘Prince Charming’ Guardiola.
Now it is up to the FA – Widow Twankey in all this – to get to the bottom of it. Good luck with that then.
Stage left we had Mourinho accusing Manchester City of a lack of class and respect in their exuberant celebrations following Sunday’s derby that prompted him to stick his nose around their dressing room door and sparked the milk-throwing fracas between players and coaches.
The normally punctual United manager was 20 minutes late for his press conference and the popular theory was that he wanted to hear what Guardiola had said in his media briefing – due to start at the same time across town.
And although he kept insisting he did not want to comment on the rumpus, when he asked to respond to Guardiola’s claim that City were not out of order, Mourinho could not help himself from delivering a barbed response. He said: “I’m not here to comment on his words. The only thing I can say is that for me it was just a question of diversity – diversity in behaviours, diversity in education, just that and nothing more than that.”
Asked to explain what he meant by diversity, he replied: “The diversity of behaviour, of opinion, of education.” Was that because Guardiola otherwise?
“Yes, exactly,” said Mourinho. “What we did in the Arsenal stadium, you know? It was completely diverse. What we did, what happened after that match, the way we behaved as winners.”
So here was Mourinho claiming the high moral ground. Coming from someone who once sprinted 60 yards down the touchline to celebrate Porto’s win at Old Trafford, stuck a finger in Tito Vilanova’s eye after a bitter El Clasico in Spain and allegedly hid in a laundry basket to get round a UEFA ban, it was all a bit rich. In panto he would have been booed – or laughed at.
Even funnier was when Mourinho brought his press conference to a premature end and then accused the media of not showing Bournemouth any respect by not asking an questions about them ahead of tonight’s match at Old Trafford.
He said: “Bye. Bye. You don’t like Bournemouth, hey? You don’t respect them? You don’t think they are a team capable of coming to Old Trafford and doing well? No respect for Eddie Howe? No respect for the players?”
The response from the audience was along the lines of maybe if the press conference had lasted more than six and half minutes the media would have time to ask questions about the Cherries.
Meanwhile, stage right, Guardiola was all wide-eyed innocence before their trip to Swansea this evening.
Yes, he encouraged his players to celebrate a huge victory but, no, it wasn’t over the top and not intended to disrespect Mourinho or his players. He claimed United would have been exactly the same had they won.
“I encourage the players to celebrate the victories, but of course inside the locker room,” said Guardiola. “We have huge respect for our opponents, not just Manchester United, all opponents.
“Believe me, the celebrations were definitely not too much. It was the same as the Southampton game. We were happy. Believe me, we were happy. We won a derby against Man United – at that moment the biggest rival we have. So people expect us not to celebrate? No.
“When United win a derby they celebrate, when Arsenal win against United they celebrate. When United and Arsenal won the FA Cup in the last two seasons they celebrate. Where? Inside the locker room. That’s what we do and we did.
“What happened in the locker room happened. Hopefully it is never going to again. If we were not correct, then I apologise to all of Manchester United. Our intention was not that. It was to celebrate inside the locker room. If the people cannot understand that then I’m sorry. We won a derby.
“If we offended United – not just one player, not Jose – Manchester United, then I apologise. Sometimes United made a lot of celebrations in the past over City. All the managers celebrate sometimes and exceed. But it didn’t happen. We have to enjoy those moments.”
Celebrations were not too much. We were happy thought