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– Sky Bet Championship Birmingham v Wolves (7.45pm) ......................... Emirates FA Cup 2nd round Slough v Rochdale (7.45pm) ............................. Evo-Stik Southern Premier League: JUST one man has got under the skin of Pep Guardiola during the Spaniard’s glorious managerial career.
His name is Jose Mourinho and he managed to do it on a regular basis when they were in combat as rival managers at Barcelona and Real Madrid.
Guardiola made it his mission not to let Mourinho wind him up, but he eventually snapped back in April 2011 when the then Real Madrid boss mocked him in a press conference ahead of a Champions League semi-final between the two sides.
Former Barca boss Guardiola was eating lunch in a private restaurant of the Eurostars Madrid Tower Hotel and had his back to the television. But he was listening and what he heard sent him into a rage.
Poison
Less than 24 hours later Guardiola took his chance to respond and launched a foul-mouthed tirade against Mourinho – in the press room of the Bernabeu, of all places.
When Guardiola returned to Barca’s team hotel, his squad gave him a standing ovation, but Mourinho knew he had secured a little triumph in the battle of the mind games.
The poison continued to flow between the two, with Mourinho doing most of the pouring as he tried everything in his power to destabilise the great Barca side Guardiola had created.
This included crude allegations that referees favoured Guardiola’s side. There were also accusations of doping, cheating, play-acting, dirty tricks and Barca exerting undue influence over officials.
Mourinho once said: “Every time I play