Mourinho would be great if Guardiola did not exist: Jorge Valdano

Pep Guardiola is a better football coach than Jose Mourinho according to Jorge Valdano

Real Madrid’s ex-Director General Jorge Valdano has criticized Jose Mourinho, saying that he would only be a great coach if Pep Guardiola didn’t exist.

The former Los Blancos player and sporting director was with Real Madrid for two years before getting the sack in 2011 after a spat with the Portuguese coach who was the Madrid boss at the time.

In his new book The Eleven Powers of the Leader, Valdano compared the two coaches to the rivalry between two composers – Mozart and Salieri.

I could never understand Mourinho: Valdano

Valdano wrote in his book: “If Guardiola is Mozart, then Mourinho is Salieri. He would be a great musician if Mozart did not exist.

“Mourinho is a personality made for these noisy and empty times.

“I never heard him say something about football, in public or in private, that was worth remembering,” he added.

“I could never understand him as we were coming from opposite poles. Intelligence and egos are enemies - when they clash, the ego wins.”

Jose Mourinho with Jorge Valdano when Mourinho was appointed as Real Madrid’s new coach

Mourinho did not succeed at Real Madrid

Valdano then went on to explain that Mourinho’s methods did get results, but he failed to win the ultimate prize during his tenure at Madrid – the Champions League title.

“Mourinho is a professional, passionate and winning coach but his thinking on the game is very different than mine. He is much more interested in results and he often gets them.

“But he had one of the best squads in the history of Real Madrid and always remained just outside the door of the Champions League. That was the big challenge which he did not manage to succeed at.

When asked if he received any feedback about the book from Mourinho, he said, “I have not heard from Mourinho's camp about my book - I do not have a close relationship with them.”