Jose Mourinho has aimed a thinly-veiled dig at both his former employers Chelsea and current Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola in an explosive interview.
Mourinho, 62, is currently the head coach of Turkish Super League side Fenerbahce, who he joined in November last year.
Ahead of the 2025-26 season, the Portuguese coach has aimed scathing criticisms at Guardiola and Chelsea.
In particular, he appeared to call out Guardiola for ‘dying with his idea’ of playing out from the back when he joined Manchester City.
He cited the Spaniard’s decision to immediately replace England’s number one goalkeeper at the time, Joe Hart, with Claudio Bravo and later Ederson.
Speaking to Portuguese TV channel Canal 11, via Marca, he said: ‘If you die with your idea, you’re stupid. Coaches have to adapt their ideas to what they have.’
Ahead of the 2025-26 season, the Portuguese coach has aimed scathing criticisms at Pep Guardiola
He accused Guardiola of being too wedded towards a specific tactical blueprint
Mourinho is about to enter his first full season in charge of Turkish Super League side Fenerbahce
‘Playing from the back with a wooden goalkeeper is complicated. I remember Guardiola had Hart, the best English goalkeeper.
‘But he wanted Claudio Bravo, but that wasn’t enough. So he signed Ederson.’
Later on in the interview, he also criticised Chelsea for what he appeared to perceive as focusing on profit by winning the Club World Cup.
The Blues put in an impressive performance in the final of the competition to sweep aside Champions League winners PSG in a one-sided 3-0 win.
Reflecting on the tournament, Mourinho added, via Abola: ‘Okay, this Club World Cup also highlighted a kid who also had a great season at Chelsea, Cole Palmer.
‘But this run to the semi-finals reminded me every time I went to the US for pre-season with Real Madrid, with Inter, it reminded me of those games we played there.
‘So, I think this World Cup title is only important for Chelsea, as they’ll sell a lot of jerseys with the logo there’.
He continued by saying that he would pay more attention to the achievements of PSG as the most recent Champions League winners.
He also criticised his former club Chelsea, implying their Club World Cup win was not an achievement worth his recognition
Mourinho won three Premier League titles at Chelsea across two spells from 2004 to 2007 and then 2013 to 2016
After selling Kylian Mbappe to Real Madrid, Luis Enrique’s side were the dominant force in last season’s competition, beating Inter 5-0 in the final to win the trophy for the first time in their history.
He added: ‘I think PSG was the big winner this season , not because of what they did domestically, because they always win domestically.
‘But winning the Champions League and the way they did, especially with the idea of losing their best player.’
