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It is a miracle that both Jose Mourinho and Pep Guardiola haven't had any pre-match 'war' yet prior to yesterday considering how 'irky' Mourinho can be at times. The 'Special One' has a reputation of dominating pre-match discussions and he finally showcased it to his Barcelona counterpart, Pep Guardiola.
While a huge chunk of the press conference was basically revealing his 'Albert Einstein' methods of motivating his players, he still managed to include some minor bit or sarcasm. Last week, Guardiola was left to rue Pedro's offside goal decision although the decision looked to be the correct one.
Nevertheless, Mourinho made comparisons with the 'Tom Henning Ovrebo' controversy in their Champions League defeat of Chelsea. To make things worse, he even reiterated the Van Persie sending off at the Nou Camp two months ago.
He said: "More important than the pressure they brought to bear so that Proenca was not the ref is that we are starting a new cycle.
"Until now we had two groups of managers. A very small group who don't speak about refs and a big group of managers like me who criticise refs when they make important mistakes.
"Now, with Pep's statements, we are entering a new era with a new group that only has one member - and they criticise referees who got a decision right.
"For me, it's a consequence of one thing. In his first season as manager, he lived the scandal of Stamford Bridge and, from that moment on, he's not happy when refs get it right.
"Last year, he faced Inter who played with 10 players for more than an hour. This year, he had one foot outside the Champions League and we saw what happened with Arsenal. In the cup final, when the ref had one decision which was absolutely correct, he criticises it."
And to basically add salt into Guardiola's wound, Mourinho made further claims on the truth in the Catalan's integrity- referring to the Barca players to be honest later tonight. Real Madrid currently have four players who are in danger of suspension if they are booked and Mourinho is well aware of some wild antics among the Blaugrana.
He added: "If our rivals are honest too, we'll have a great game."
Apparently, the message arrived to a very fiery Pep Guardiola who now seems to have been affected by the last two matches against Los Blancos in which his team never really managed to break the 'Great Wall of Madrid'. Worse still, the manner in which he responsed was rather absolutely vulgar.
Guardiola said: "Jose permitted himself the luxury of calling me Pep so I'm going to call him Jose. Which one is his camera?
"In this room Mourinho's the f***ing chief, the f***ing boss. I do not have to compete with him in here. If Barca want someone to compete in here then they should hire another manager.
"I could bring up 300,000 pieces of paper with things to complain about but I don't have enough paper. He has won the battle off the pitch. I want to compete on the pitch. He won the press conferences.
"He's much better than me off the pitch. I represent an institution that believes this is not the best way to do things."
This rather bombastic war of words has definitely taken tonight's clash into a different level and perhaps we can imminently expect some heated conversations on the touchline as well. If previously it was more like a Cristiano Ronaldo Vs Lionel Messi tie, now it is ultimately a Jose Mourinho Vs Pep Guardiola 'War'.
