Jose Mourinho’s strained relationship with Manchester United midfielder Paul Pogba continues to make headlines after the pair shared a tense training ground exchange on Wednesday.
Pogba had been stripped of the United vice-captaincy as the fall out continued from his “attack, attack, attack” comments in the wake of the 1-1 Premier League draw with promoted Wolves at Old Trafford.
Here, Press Association Sport takes a look back at other instances of the Portuguese coach finding himself at loggerheads with rivals managers, key players and officials.
Anders Frisk
Following a 2005 Champions League last-16 tie against Barcelona, Mourinho suggested referee Anders Frisk had met with rival coach Frank Rijkaard in his dressing-room at half-time during the first leg at the Nou Camp. The Chelsea boss claimed the alleged incident resulted in Didier Drogba being sent off as his side lost 2-1. Following the fall-out, Frisk chose to retire after his family’s safety was called into question by anonymous threats, while Mourinho was slapped with a two-match touchline ban and condemned as “the enemy of football” by UEFA referees chief Volker Roth.
Arsene Wenger
There has been little love lost between Mourinho and former long-serving Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger during any of the Portuguese coach’s spells in England. Mourinho labelled his opposite number a “voyeur” and later a “specialist in failure”, and the two rivals managers even came to blows on the touchline in a Premier League match at Stamford Bridge during October 2014 – veteran Frenchman Wenger shoving Mourinho as they squared up in the technical area. “If it was me it would have been a stadium ban,” the then Chelsea boss lamented afterwards.
Pep Guardiola
While Mourinho and Pep Guardiola have only gone head-to-head in the Premier League in recent years, the bad blood between the pair stretches back a long way. At one time, the duo were said to have been on good terms while with Barcelona, where Mourinho worked as translator for Bobby Robson. However, once they both moved into the dugout, things took a downward spiral in spells at Inter Milan, Real Madrid and Barcelona, then also Bayern Munich and Chelsea. Once installed on rival sides of Manchester, Mourinho could not resist another sly dig at his old adversary following City’s documentary of their historic Premier League title triumph. “You can be a rich club and buy the best players in the world, but you cannot buy class and they showed that clearly,” the United boss said.
Iker Casillas
World Cup winner Casillas found himself on the wrong side of Mourinho during their time at Real Madrid. Initially the number one for both club and country, Casillas was eventually frozen out by Mourinho, the coach reportedly not impressed by his continued close relationships with national-team players in the Barcelona squad. During January 2013, Diego Lopez was brought in as cover for Casillas, who had suffered a hand injury. Lopez, though, but would go on to retain the keeper’s jersey as Casillas found himself left warming the bench before Mourinho departed at the end of the season.
