Chelsea might have won their fourth Premier League title and first in five years on Sunday after a 1-0 win over Crystal Palace, but Jose Mourinho couldn’t help but use the opportunity to have a dig at his rivals, namely Bayern Munich boss Pep Guardiola.
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The two have a longstanding rivalry spanning back to their days at the top of La Liga with Guardiola managing that indomitable Barcelona side of the late 00’s – arguably one of the best of all time – whilst Mourinho was coach at the Bernabeu with Real Madrid.
The Portuguese rarely got a major win over Guardiola during that period, even racking up his worst ever defeat as a manager – 5-0 at the Camp Nou in 2010 – and was seemingly cursed to always be second fiddle, something the self titled ‘Special One’ will clearly despise.
But speaking after Chelsea’s Premier League win this weekend, the Chelsea boss couldn’t stop himself from sticking the boot in and covertly criticising his long standing rival.
Commenting on the win, Mourinho made a point of emphasising how hard it is to win a title in England with so many competitive teams – a difficulty that is not so prevelant in Germany, say, where Bayern Munich have romped to another Bundesliga win by a hefty points margin.
Mourinho adding he could be ‘smart’ like other managers where it’s ‘easy’ to win, but he enjoys the difficulty of the English league.
“I don’t compare with the past, no. I can say it’s very difficult, because the Premier League is changing and everything gets stronger, it’s impossible to be beat some teams 8-0 or 6-0. You saw Crystal Palace come here with a fantastic attitude,” he told BBC Sport.
“Maybe in other countries they do not bring this to the game. They gave an exact image of the Premier League and the nature of the competition. The English game is still my favourite.
“I could be smarter and like other mangers choose teams and countries where it’s easy to be champions, where they can enjoy calmly their success. I choose a country where it’s difficult to win and a club without a big tradition of winning Premier League titles because the last one was in 2010. I choose a difficult job.”
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