Jose Mourinho, Pep Guardiola to lock horns once again in EFL Cup final

Barcelona 1 Inter Milan 0 – Champions League semi-final, April 2010

Guardiola's Barcelona won the battle but lost the war as Mourinho's Inter put on a defensive masterclass to ensure the 3-1 win they claimed at the San Siro the previous week was enough of a buffer to put them into the final. Inter did it the hard way, playing for more than an hour with 10 men after Thiago Motta was sent off, while Gerard Pique gave Barcelona hope with a late strike but the visitors held on against the defending champions. Mourinho, who said afterwards the result was "the most beautiful defeat of my life", stormed on to the Nou Camp pitch in wild celebration, agitating Barcelona's players and supporters and apparently the club's hierarchy as well.

Barcelona 5 Real Madrid 0 – LaLiga, November 2010

Mourinho steering Inter to an unprecedented treble, as well as knocking Barcelona off their perch, led to him taking charge of Real Madrid. However, his first El Clasico ended in the heaviest defeat of his career as Guardiola gained a measure of revenge for the Champions League defeat months earlier. While he did not get on the scoresheet, Lionel Messi put Cristiano Ronaldo in the shade with two pinpoint passes for David Villa to find the back of the net. Xavi, Pedro and Jeffren also struck while Real's miserable day was compounded by Sergio Ramos' red card. Real president Florentino Perez labelled the hammering as the "worst game in the history" of the club.

Barcelona 0 Real Madrid 1 (aet) – Copa del Rey final, April 2011

Barcelona pipped their great foes to the LaLiga title but Mourinho would get his hands on silverware in his first season at the helm of the capital club. It was a scrappy affair at the Mestalla, which went to extra-time and was only settled when Ronaldo headed home from Angel Di Maria's cross. Iker Casillas kept Real's goal in tact with terrific saves to thwart Messi and Andres Iniesta. Real therefore went all the way in the competition for the first time in 17 years, prompting a celebration on their return to Madrid, where Ramos unforgettably dropped the trophy from atop a double decker bus, which ran over it.

Barcelona 3 Real Madrid 2 – Supercopa de Espana, August 2011

Tensions between the clubs had been bubbling under the surface for a number of years, and the arrival of Mourinho at Real to challenge Barcelona's dominance had an extra layer of drama. What followed in the curtain-raiser to the 2011/12 season represented something of a nadir. Messi struck late on in the second leg as the Catalan giants edged the two meetings 5-4 on aggregate but that was a mere subplot following a melee at the end of the game. Real's Marcelo and Mesut Ozil and Barcelona's Villa were sent off while Mourinho jabbed his finger into the eye of Tito Vilanova. The Barca assistant and Mourinho were each given short suspensions but they were ultimately lifted.

Manchester City 2 Manchester United 3 – Premier League, April 2018

Guardiola's City needed to beat Mourinho's United to wrap up the title and looked to be well on their way after half an hour when Vincent Kompany's header was followed by Ilkay Gundogan's fine finish. United were outgunned in the first half but, against everybody's expectations, they rallied after the interval, with Paul Pogba coming to the fore. It had been speculated by Guardiola beforehand that Pogba was offered to City months earlier and the Frenchman showed the Catalonian what he had apparently missed out on with a quickfire brace before Chris Smalling bagged the winner. Guardiola, though had the last laugh as City wrapped up the title soon afterwards.