When my father died, Pep Guardiola called me.. when his mother died, I called him, reveals emotional Jose Mourinho

JOSE MOURINHO has revealed he and Pep Guardiola emotionally consoled each over the deaths of their parents.

Mourinho and Guardiola have spent much of their managerial careers in direct competition with each other in Spain and England.

Tempers boiled over in games between Barcelona and Real Madrid and the rivalry in charge of the two Manchester clubs kept the temperature hot.

But, last year, Mourinho revealed there is a secret side the world is unlikely to see.

In February 2021, the Special One said: “Football matches, football problems if you want to call them – for me, I’m from the generation where what happens in a football match stays in the football match and I have only positive feelings and good respect.

“There are moments in life where we don’t forget things.

“One of the things I don’t forget was when my father died he knew how important my dad was to me so he had a call.

“By the way, today would be my dad’s birthday, he would be 83 today and, of course when his mum died I replied the same way.

“So there are things that people don’t see, we don’t need to share.

FREE BETS AND SIGN UP DEALS – BEST NEW CUSTOMER OFFERS

“I’m sharing because now I have the opportunity but I only have good memories of him when we were together.”

Mourinho added: “The problem with us coaches is that it is not easy to develop or cultivate friendships or to develop relations because we don’t see each other.

“We see each other before games, two minutes, and after games another two minutes and it’s difficult.

“But with Pep I keep the three years where we were together, we saw each other every day, we celebrate together the titles we won, we didn’t cry but we were disappointed together when we lost.

“Something important, great periods of our lives, him as a player, me as a young assistant and that’s what of course I keep.

“After that I can only have good feelings with him – I don’t have any bad feeling.”