Jose Mourinho appears to have aimed a comment at his long-time rival Pep Guardiola, saying that a “sabbatical means weakness” while the former Manchester City manager is currently taking time away from football.
Guardiola recently ended his 10-year spell with Manchester City. Despite receiving possible offers to work in international football, the Catalan coach has decided to take a break. He previously spent a year away from management after leaving Barcelona in 2012 before taking charge of Bayern Munich.
Guardiola’s first break came after an intense period at Barcelona, when his team regularly competed against Mourinho’s Real Madrid. The Spanish coach is well known for his intense working style, so taking some time away from football was not considered a major surprise.
However, “The Special One” explained that he has never felt the need to take a planned break from management. Mourinho’s periods away from football have usually happened because he was waiting for the right job rather than choosing to take time off.
Speaking in his Netflix documentary, Mourinho said: “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’.”
Since becoming one of Europe’s leading managers with Porto in the early 2000s, Mourinho’s longest period without a coaching job has been 11 months. That came after he was sacked by Manchester United in December 2018 and before he became Tottenham manager in November 2019.
