• Chelsea's match with Bayern Munich stirs up statistical spat
• Former managers of Real Madrid and Barcelona meet again
The Chelsea manager, José Mourinho, gave a prickly reaction when questioned about his rivalry with his Bayern Munich counterpart, Pep Guardiola, ahead of a reunion in the European Super Cup on Friday night.
When the former Real Madrid coach was asked why he found it difficult to win matches when Guardiola had been in charge of Barcelona, with it being pointed out he had only three wins from 15 games against his old adversary, Mourinho responded by saying: "Your statistics are wrong and very wrong. But I don't want to discuss that because it's not important. It's wrong.
"Go there and see what happened with Inter in the Champions League semi-final [in 2010]. I won the Spanish Cup final in Valencia [in 2011], I won the Super Cup in Spain [in 2012]. I was champion in Spain [in 2011-12]. I won the match for the title in Barcelona with Real Madrid. You are very, very wrong, you are wrong."
Asked if Mourinho had the real statistics, he then relented, suggesting his inquisitor might, in fact, be correct. "I don't know," the Portuguese added. "Maybe you are right and I am wrong. But I don't care. It's not important."
The three wins for Mourinho are correct but he did enjoy aggregate success in two-legged ties over Guardiola.
Mourinho was then asked about the portrayal of Barcelona as a beautiful footballing side and his old Madrid side as merely functional, whereupon he grabbed the badge on his white polo shirt and pointed at it.
"It's white but it's Chelsea," he said. "If you want questions about Chelsea I'm here until four o'clock. If you want questions about Real Madrid and Barcelona or wherever, I'm not here.
"That's not about me and Pep. It's about Chelsea and it's about Bayern Munich. It's about a Super Cup where the European champion is playing against the Europa League champion.
"Pep is not European champion and I'm not Europa League champion. We just coach now the European champion and the Europa League champion. This is not about us. It's about Chelsea and Bayern."
The match is a re-run of the 2012 European Cup final, won by Chelsea, but, as Mourinho points out, two of the main protagonists are different.
Guardiola, following a year's sabbatical after leaving Barcelona, has replaced Jupp Heynckes, who retired after lifting the European Cup in the all-German final at Wembley in May. Mourinho, meanwhile, returned to Stamford Bridge in place of Rafael Benítez, who as interim manager led Chelsea to a Europa League triumph in Amsterdam in May.
via Football news, match reports and fixtures | theguardian.com http://feeds.theguardian.com/c/34708/f/663845/s/308ddcaf/sc/13/l/0L0Stheguardian0N0Cfootball0C20A130Caug0C290Cjose0Emourinho0Epep0Eguardiola0Esuper0Ecup/story01.htm
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