Zlatan Ibrahimovic has revealed the differences between Jose Mourinho and Pep Guardiola. Ibrahimovic has worked under both managers, Mourinho at Inter Milan and Guardiola at Barcelona. The 34-year-old is close with the Portuguese boss, finishing as Serie A top scorer for Mourinho’s Inter team of 2008/09.
And in Carlo Ancelotti’s autobiography ‘Quiet Leadership’, currently being serialised in ‘The Times’, Ibrahimovic explains the differences between the two managers.
“Mourinho is the disciplinarian,” the Sweden legend said. “Everything with him is a mind game — he likes to manipulate. Such tricks were new for me — all the time doing one thing to get another thing, all the time triggering me.
“I like these games and it worked for me; I became top scorer under him and we won the league. As long as it works and as long as we win, it’s all good with me.
“The way Mourinho prepared for games was also new to me. I would get pumped up, believing the story he would feed us.
“I went through a lot of adrenaline when I played for him. It was like nothing was ever good enough.
“He gave and he took. Jose Mourinho knows how to treat a footballer, but Carlo knows how to treat a person.
“After Mourinho I went to Pep Guardiola, the big brain in football. He had all these solutions for every team we played against, knowing exactly what we needed to do to win, exactly how he wanted it achieved.
“We could be winning 2–0 at half-time, but he would say, ‘We’re not finished here. I want three, four, five, six, seven.’ He was like a machine.”
Ibrahimovic has been linked with a reunion with Mourinho at Manchester United next season.
