Man City’s Guardiola says relationship with Spurs’ Mourinho is better than before

Pep Guardiola says he’s happier now that he’s put aside his differences with Jose Mourinho.

Guardiola and Mourinho had a difficult relationship during their time together in Spain as they were in charge of Barcelona and Real Madrid respectively.

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They were reunited in Manchester in 2016 when Guardiola was nominated by Manchester City and Mourinho took over from Manchester United and before another meeting on Saturday when Mourinho, now Tottenham manager, visits the Etihad stadium, Guardiola says he is happy that the draw is over.

“Absolutely, I prefer that, I don’t like being in the limelight,” Guardiola said at a press conference on Friday.

“I like doing my job, training sessions without any press conference. The game speaks for itself, but we have to. For the company, for publicity for everyone, it has to be done.

“I’m a manager so that I don’t go out and talk about something bad about other managers, about clubs. I’m here to talk about football; that’s why I’m here and why I became a manager.”

After their fireworks display in Spain, the rivalry between Guardiola and Mourinho was expected to intensify in Manchester but it never reached the same ferocity as City became the dominant force in English football while Mourinho lasted just over two years at Old Trafford.

“Maybe you expect it, or like it, but situations are natural, why should we have a rivalry with all the managers we have?” Guardiola said.

“Before being calm, I prefer not to get involved. I have a good relationship with him, you can agree or disagree but it’s not a big problem.

“His company is Tottenham, or before United mine is City. We have to manage our team and the backroom staff and we don’t have time to find out what the other club is and what about it. The only concern is what we have to do [against Tottenham]. “