This week has seen Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho slammed in the Spanish media.
There are countless articles tearing the Old Trafford supremo to pieces (we compiled a ‘best of’ selection) whilst at the same time talking up Pep Guardiola.
David de Gea’s future has also come into question, with it being assumed he must be annoyed with the sporting side of things at Manchester United.
It’s the Catalan press who go in hardest on Mourinho and who are most proud of Guardiola, and this is due to the great rivalry between Real Madrid and Barcelona, which the two men have a taken little of to Manchester.
For Guardiola specifically there’s also the politics issue. An outspoken supporter of Catalan independence, it’s long been suspected the Manchester City manager will move into a political role when he retires from football.
This all buys him more bonus points among many in Catalonia (well, at least the roughly half keen on independence) and serves to irritate others in Spain.
Marca have a small article in their Friday edition which goes straight for Guardiola, and dubs the Manchester City boss ‘Pinocchio’.
The Spanish newspaper clearly feel Guardiola is deceiving an English audience over his wearing of a yellow ribbon: ‘The difference between thinking and acting is what destroys Guardiola’s hispanophobic discourse. Here nobody is in jail for their ideas but for trying to put them into practice by skipping the constitution and other laws. In any country that’s prison. However Guardiola insists on that lie, taking advantage of the ignorance of the people who hear it.’
Marca explain how Bayern Munich’s Dr. Hans-Wilhelm Müller-Wohlfahrt has spoken about Guardiola’s efforts to deceive people. The club doctor, who left for a period whilst Guardiola was manager, writes in his new autobiography: ‘I think Pep Guardiola is a person of low self-esteem, who does everything in his power to mislead others. He therefore seems to live in constant fear, not so much of defeat, but much more of the loss of power and authority.’
The Spanish newspaper say Guardiola ‘doesn’t mind lying or using tricks to get his way’ and it’s apparent Marca, or at least some who write for the newspaper, have had enough of the way the yellow ribbon is being presented in England.
‘Guardiola gives football lessons’
‘The Special Failure’
‘Verbal incontinence’
‘We are facing the beginning of the end of the f****** master of press conferences.’
Man United boss savaged in Spain. https://t.co/ywHySiFrO1 #mufc #mcfc pic.twitter.com/5VkADZQtqe
— Sport Witness (@Sport_Witness) March 15, 2018
