Jose had better be ready to face the music if he loses

Richard REPORTS KEVIN DE BRUYNE had a “distant” relationship with Jose Mourinho at Chelsea but he will be right in his ears today.

In fact, Mourinho will need plugs in his lugholes if Manchester City – once dubbed the “noisy neighbours” by Sir Alex Ferguson – pick themselves up from their shattering Champions League defeat by Liverpool and secure the Premier League title.

Manchester United manager Mourinho complained about the excessive noise coming from City’s dressing room after their 2-1 win at Old Trafford in December, but he had better be prepared for the decibels to go up several notches if Pep Guardiola’s side complete their one-horse pursuit of the championship with six games to spare.

De Bruyne says playing music in the dressing room before and after matches is not intended to be disrespectful but holds an important place in City’s collective psyche, quite apart from Guardiola’s coaching and tactical nous.

“The volume is always up,” he said. “It’s our way to prepare for games. The music is on before the game and after, so it’s not like because we won we’re going to change it, it’s just because it’s the thing we do, it’s the thing that gets us relaxed.

“Some teams don’t do music, but a lot of teams I’ve played in have played music, and obviously the dressing rooms are mostly close to each other. It’s not to mock anybody.”

Apart from ear notoriously prickly might just need to thick skin.

“You have to take it up, you know,” said De Bruyne. “If you lose, you lose; you have to take it up that people mock you, that people do things on social media, say things about you.

“We put music on for us, not to do anything bad to other people. It’s our thing to relax and have fun, and if people take it that it’s bad towards them, then I’m sorry, but it’s just for us.

“Lots of teams put music on and we hear it also, so I don’t think it’s disrespectful.”

De Bruyne hit a few bum notes under Mourinho at Chelsea, who bought him from Genk as a youngster but hardly played him, loaned him out and eventually sold him to Wolfsburg.

His story is similar to that of Mohamed Salah, who was bought plugs, the Mourinho develop a and sold by Mourinho. The irony that those two players are now rivals for the player of the year awards is not lost on De Bruyne.

“My relationship with Mourinho? I would say distant,” he said. “I’m not really someone who speaks a lot with coaches. If a coach wants to speak to you then you just do it.

“He’s the boss. You can be good with each other but still there’s a distance between a coach and a player.

“I only spoke with him twice. The first time when I wanted to leave to go to Borussia Dortmund, when Mario Gotze left for Munich so I thought there was a perfect role for me.

“But I had to stay and wait for my chances. And the second meeting was just before the New Year 2014 when everyone