When it came to an eight-part documentary series which can basically be summed up as 'Pep is God,' you just knew Jose Mourinho was going to have the last word.
The Guardiola love-in continued this week, with Amazon releasing their eight-part fly-on-the-wall series chronicling Manchester City's record-shattering second season under the former Barcelona tactician.
Unsurprisingly, the documentary highlights Guardiola's abilities as a gifted reader of the game and an extraordinary man-motivator.
Also unsurprisingly, there are a few cracks at Mourinho, too. City didn't have editorial control over the final cut but there must have been a few sniggers when the narrator, Ben Kingsley, referred to City v United as 'attacking football v park the bus.'
Mourinho is painted unfavourably in the documentary, whether it's a focus on his pragmatic style of football or his rejection of Kevin De Bruyne at Chelsea, the Belgian going on to become Pep's playmaker-in-chief.
https://twitter.com/SportsJOEdotie/status/1030803550287405056
But Mourinho wasn't prepared to let the documentary slide.
While
claiming that City lack class, the bedeviled United boss jokingly cracked that he should be requesting royalties. The Portuguese coach, however, claimed he would be content if City sent him one of the t-shirts they had made for April 7.
That was the date, of course, on which City were supposed to swat United aside and clinch the Premier League title against their arch-rivals.
It didn't quite pan out that way. Much to Mourinho's satisfaction, United rallied from two goals down to win 3-2 and postpone City's party.
"The second reaction is because I am in the movie I could ask for some royalties," Mourinho said. "But if they send me one of the shirts they had in the tunnel when we played there, the shirts that were saying ‘We did it on derby day’. If they send me one of these shirts, I give up about the royalties.”
Ouch. City obviously won the title at a canter but failing to get the job done against United, especially seeing as they were 2-0 up, would have infuriated Guardiola.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Axc50PkNbgo
“You know, a movie without me doesn’t sell much. Come on! It needed me [in] there.”
Ultimately, documentaries are immaterial. Whoever has the last laugh this season remains to be seen but most people seem to be betting their life-savings on City retaining the title, even though they've played once this season and have just lost De Bruyne for three months.
They still look a better shout than United.
https://twitter.com/symmetry73/status/1030275900661817345
