Jose Mourinho reveals he was ‘never close’ to taking the Barcelona task in 2008 forward of Pep Guardiola

“Never.”

The text of Jose Mourinho when requested if he was shut to joining Barcelona as manager in 2008.

A great deal has been manufactured of the sliding doors minute in the Blaugrana’s background which noticed them retain the services of then managerial novice Pep Guardiola more than Mourinho.

Guardiola went on to supply an unparalleled period of achievements at the club, cultivating the talent of Leo Messi who aided produce two Champions League titles – in 2009 and 2011 – in a few many years.

Mourinho, who had famously worked at the Camp Nou as a translator and mentor in the nineties, ended up on the other facet of Spain’s most significant sporting divide as mentor of Real Madrid.

In that job, his frequent match-ups with Guardiola developed a single of the most bitter rivalries of all time.

“They [Barcelona] questioned me to do an examination of the scenario of the workforce in an unappealing moment, a instant of transition from the poor to the fantastic, it was difficult,” Mourinho extra although speaking to Movistar+.

“The person who requested me to do it was another person large up in the club. I did it, but absolutely nothing far more.

“Then, the good news is for me, background took its system.”

There is invariably an factor of mischievousness with Mourinho, and who understands what “fortuitously” refers to.

But the aspect of bitterness he harbours toward Barcelona would not seem to be to have died down with time.