Barcelona coach Josep Guardiola loses his cool over Real Madrid boss Jose Mourinho’s comments
Barcelona manager Josep Guardiola has hit back at Jose Mourinho for the Portuguese’s comments against him regarding refereeing decisions.
Mourinho had earlier claimed that Guardiola criticised referees for awarding correct decisions, prompting an angry backlash from the Barca boss.
The upcoming Champions League semi-final encounter between Barcelona and Real Madrid has been given extra spice after a war of words erupted between the managers of both clubs.
It all started after Real Madrid’s Copa del Rey final triumph over their bitter rivals last week. Guardiola had questioned the referee’s decision to disallow Pedro’s goal for offside, even after replays clearly showed that the decision was a correct one.
Referring to those remarks, Mourinho had said, “Up until now we've had two groups of coaches. [There's] a very small group who didn't talk about referees. Then there's a larger group, of which I'm included, of coaches that criticises referees when they make
big mistakes.”
He added, “And with Pep's statements we've come to a third group, which is a one person group, who criticises good decisions made by the referee. I've never seen this before.”
Mourinho’s comments have not been well received by the Barcelona boss. In fact, Guardiola lashed out at his counterpart in uncharacteristically unrestrained fashion. He claimed that he would not be drawn into a war of words, but it seems he has already done
so.
Guardiola said, “Tomorrow [Wednesday] at 8.45 we will meet each other on the pitch. Off the pitch he has already won. In this room (press room), he's the ******* chief, the ******* man, the person who knows everything about the world and I don't want to
compete with him at all.”
He added, “It's a type of game I'm not going to play because I don't know how. Off the pitch, he has already won, as he has done all year. On the pitch, we'll see what happens.”
Barcelona and Real Madrid will go head to head for the first leg of their Champions League semi-final encounter on April 27, 2011 at the Santiago Bernabeu.
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