Mourinho disclosed how Guardiola’s kind words helped him to soldier through a difficult moment in his life.
Both coaches are considered as the two of the very best managers of this generation, and have not always seen eye-to-eye over their respective managerial careers.
Their rancorous relationship started in 2010 when Mourinho guided his Inter Milan charges to knock Guardiola’s Barcelona out of the Champions League.
The Portuguese coach joined Real Madrid in the summer of 2010 to renew his rivalry with Guardiola as both Los Blancos and Barcelona fought for laurels under these coaches.
Ahead of Tottenham Hotspur’s trip to the Etihad Stadium to face in-form Manchester City on Saturday, Mourinho told reporters he shared a good relationship with Guardiola dating back to when he was part of Barcelona’s technical team.
“For years we worked together, we shaw each other every day. We celebrated together the titles we won, we didn’t cry but were disappointed together when we lost something important,” Mourinho said.
“Great periods of our lives, him as a player and myself as a young assistant, and that’s of course what I keep. After that, I can only have good feelings with him, I don’t have any bad feelings.”
“There are moments in life where we don’t forget things. One of the things I don’t forget was when my father died. He knew how important my dad was to me so he had a call. By the way, he would be 83 today [February 12],” Mourinho emotionally added.
“And of course, when his mom died I replied the same way, so there are things people don’t see. We don’t need to share, I’m sharing because I have now the opportunity but I only have good memories of him when we worked together."
