Jose Mourinho or Pep Guardiola? Bleacher Reports Writers Debate Who Is Better
I was inspired by my last comparison of Cristiano Ronaldo and Leo Messi. I decided to do another comparison with Jose Mourinho and Pep Guardiola.
The list of people who were invited constitutes a list of the greatest writers in Bleacher Report: Sabrina Dessipe, Jo-Ryan Salazar and Tim Fontenault.
The burning question of the round table discussion is
Jose Mourinho or Pep Guardiola: Who is better and why?
Sabrina Dessipe: Jose Mourinho and Pep Guardiola
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That’s difficult to say, Pep Guardiola has had an unprecedented amount of success in his very young career as manager. He also manages the best team in the world. That said, even with the players he has at his disposal it takes managerial skill to win as consistently as he has. His man management skills are very good as evidenced by how much the players love him also it takes tactical skill to manage a team as successful as his.
Jose Mourinho has had much success in his managerial career as well, but his team's style of play and tactics are not as appreciated in the footballing community as Guardiola’s. His teams do whatever it takes to be champions even if it isn’t pretty. Jose is the master of mind games but has tainted his reputation with some of his comments this season.
Pep has won so much in such a short time with Barcelona some might say he needs to prove he can win with another team, but I’d still give it to Pep over Mourinho.
Jo-Ryan Salazar: Jose Mourinho and Pep Guardiola
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Pepe Guardiola. Hands down. He has a style that fits the world’s best players. Mourinho might have the best plan to counter it, but Guardiola knows how to bring maximum effort from the players he works with.
Tim Fontenault: Jose Mourinho and Pep Guardiola
3 of 3If I were a professional footballer and I had offers from both Real Madrid and Barcelona, after realizing it was not a dream and coming back down to Earth, I would look at the options. A big factor for me would definitely be the manager.
On one hand, the Special One, the master of the home pitch. Mourinho is a brilliant football mind, however, despite his incredible unbeaten home record stretching from his days at Porto through his time at Chelsea, Inter Milan and into the last couple weeks of the season with Real Madrid, he has not been able to find much success outside of the domestic competitions with his clubs. Obviously, he has two Champions League triumphs with Porto and Inter Milan, but his overall European success is nothing “special” in comparison to his counterpart.
On to Mr. Guardiola. A very young manager, Pep is only 40 and has won everything at Barcelona: two Champions Leagues, three La Liga titles, a Club World Cup with one more likely on the way in December, a Copa del Rey, the Spanish Super Cup and the UEFA Super Cup. Eight years younger than Mourinho and having managed for about nine less, he has won as many Champions Leagues and has won domestic leagues as consistently as Mourinho did before moving to Real Madrid. Not to mention that Guardiola manages the greatest club on the planet and has implemented a possession game that is suited perfectly to his players. He has everything going for him.
Head to head, Mourinho has managed only a win in five matches, though it was the Copa del Rey Final. However, that 5-0 Barcelona victory in the first half of the season really allowed Guardiola to shine. Always a man to let his team be the center of the fan’s attention as they play their graceful football, Guardiola is simply a manager doing his job: applying the right means for his team to be the best, which Barcelona are.
Mourinho is more of an airhead. He’s always in front of the camera pointing fingers and making excuses while attacking his fellow coaches or opponents, such as he did during that stretch where El Clasico was played four times in April.
With a team like Ronaldo, Kaka, Higuain, Ozil, di Maria, Carvalho, Pepe, Marcelo, Casillas, etc. Real Madrid should be on more level terms with their rivals. They’re not. The reason: Pep Guardiola, the better manager than Mourinho and the best manager in the world…AT 40 YEARS OLD!
