Jose Mourinho Throws Shade At Pep Guardiolas Sabbatical From Coaching Hate That Word It Means Weakness

Jose Mourinho's Netflix documentary, which went live worldwide on Tuesday, was expected to cause fireworks, and the three-episode series has lived up to the high billing. From a high-profile Manchester United reveal to a revisit of the tension with Iker Casillas during his stint with Real Madrid, the Mourinho documentary details it all. However, no one expected Mourinho to renew his rivalry with former Barcelona manager Pep Guardiola and take fresh potshots at the legendary coach who recently took a sabbatical from managing clubs.

Guardiola recently brought the curtain down on his managerial stint with Manchester City. After 10 years at the helm, the 55-year-old decided to take a break. He was recently approached by the Italian Federation, but Guardiola politely declined.

It is worth mentioning that the rivalry between Mourinho and Guardiola reached its peak when the duo were the managers of Real Madrid and Barcelona. The latter took his first sabbatical from coaching after stepping down as Barcelona's coach.

Speaking about the same, Mourinho stated in the documentary that he has never felt the need to step away from the sport, saying that taking breaks is not in his DNA.

“Some guys, they need a sabbatical, which is something that I hate. I hate that word. For me, sabbatical means weakness. Don't speak with me about sabbaticals. I never need a rest. I will have a rest when he (Mourinho points to the sky) decides to say: ‘Come up’,” Mourinho said in the third and final episode of the documentary, which chronicles the Portuguese coach leaving Inter Milan and joining Real Madrid as the manager.

Ever since bursting onto the scene with Porto in the early 2000s, the longest Mourinho has gone without coaching a team has been just 11 months, the gap between his Manchester United dismissal in December 2018 and his appointment at Tottenham Hotspur in November 2019.

Mourinho is now back at Real Madrid, and the 63-year-old has begun his second stint with the Spanish club. In the documentary, he also stated that he cannot imagine a time when he would eventually step away from the game.

“I cannot even imagine when I am going to stop my life in football. I say 10 more years, but maybe more than 10. It's fun. It was, it is and will always be fun. I want to win more titles. I want to win new titles. I want to repeat titles,” said Mourinho.

“I want to do it in places where I have never been. I want to do it in the same places I did before. My world is walking into a football stadium with 50,000 or 90,000 fans. I had 100,000. That is my world. Without football, there is nothing complete in me. But I don't think it is an obsession. I don't feel it as an obsession. It is just when you reach a certain level, you want to stay there forever,” he added.

The same documentary also saw Mourinho reveal that he was in line to replace Sir Alex Ferguson as Manchester United manager in 2013, but he declined at the last minute and chose to go for a second stint with Chelsea.

Vishesh Roy is a sports journalist with a strong focus on cricket. He began his career at Asian News International (ANI), where he covered a range of high-profile events, including the India Open, Legends Cricket League, the England–India Test series in Ahmedabad in 2021, and the inauguration of the Narendra Modi Stadium. During his tenure at ANI, he also reported extensively on domestic cricket, covering several Ranji Trophy and Vijay Hazare Trophy matches across the country. While cricket remains his primary beat, Vishesh has also reported on tennis, football and WWE. After a stint of over three years at ANI, Vishesh moved to NDTV, where he gained hands-on experience in digital-first journalism, with a particular emphasis on live blogs and real-time news reporting. He joined Hindustan Times in October 2024 and quickly established himself with a series of exclusive interviews and source-driven stories. Ahead of the IPL 2025 auction, Hindustan Times was the first to report that the two-day event would be held in Saudi Arabia. In the early months of his tenure, Vishesh secured interviews with leading cricketers, including Pat Cummins, Shreyas Iyer, Nitish Kumar Reddy and Rashid Latif. He has also closely tracked the rise of emerging talents such as Vaibhav Suryavanshi and Priyansh Arya by speaking to their current and childhood coaches. His background in on-field reporting has helped Hindustan Times Digital break exclusive stories on major developments, including Virat Kohli’s return to the Ranji and Vijay Hazare Trophy, IPL scheduling, and the T20 World Cup controversy involving Bangladesh and Pakistan.Read More