Jose Mourinho and Arsene Wenger, once longtime rivals, have now become fellow pundits. Mourinho has recently taken to television for beIN Sports after being released by Manchester United, and Arsene Wenger has done the same after finishing his long career with Arsenal. Their story as rivals with Chelsea and Arsenal, respectively, have been very popular among the media and fans.
The rivalry started in 2004, when Mourinho took over at Chelsea. The Portuguese boss aimed a few digs at Wenger, and Wenger threw some back. This happened for a number of seasons, but it died down after Mourinho took over at Inter and Real Madrid thereafter.
But when Mourinho returned to Chelsea in 2013, the rivalry quickly picked up where it left off. Mourinho and Wenger pushed each other around on the Stamford Bridge touchline in 2015, and the Chelsea boss called the Arsenal manager a “specialist in failure” just the season before.
A few seasons later, when Mourinho was appointed as Manchester United manager, he aimed a veiled dig at Wenger, saying, “In this country, only one manager is not under pressure. Every other manager is. We cannot be below par.”
But, by the time Wenger left Arsenal in 2018, Mourinho was much more complimentary, saying, “If he even respects me 50 percent of how much I respect him, we can be friends in the future."
Now that both are out of manager jobs, maybe they can be friends. And they have a chance to do it very soon. For beIN sports, both Mourinho and Wenger will be sharing a studio as pundits for the Champions League final. This is the first time they will be working together on the pitch or in the studio.
#Mourinho and #Wenger share the same studio for the first time! This is going to be a #UCLFinal not to be missed. #beINUCLhttps://t.co/AwwezTu4da
— beIN SPORTS (@beINSPORTS) May 27, 2019
Say what you want about Mourinho and Wenger and their management styles, but both have said some very astute and profound things as pundits. Together, they may not agree on a lot of things, but they know football and it will be very interesting to see them on the same side of the table for once.
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