‘Jose would park the bus to protect a slender lead, whereas Pep would demand a fourth, fifth, sixth goal – he was more obsessed with pure football’: Chelsea cult hero opens up on Mourinho and Guardiola differences
Eidur Gudjohnsen was coached by both Jose Mourinho and Pep Guardiola during his playing career - and he says that both coaches had their own similarities and differences
Pep Guardiola and Jose Mourinho used to share a rivalry(Image credit: Getty Images)
Eidur Gudjohnsen was coached by both Jose Mourinho and Pep Guardiola during his playing career - and he says that both coaches had their own similarities and differences.
The former striker spent time with Mourinho when he was at Chelsea, while he played under Guardiola during the Spaniard's tenure with Barcelona.
Gudjohnsen enjoyed arguably his peak footballing years at Stamford Bridge, while his tenure in Catalonia was a mixed bag.
Eidur Gudjohnsen worked with both coaches (Image credit: Getty)
Speaking to FourFourTwo, the 45-year-old said that both managers were similar when it came to their style of coaching - but on a personal level, it was a whole different story.
“Coaching style? Not too much. Personalities? Totally different,” Gudjohnsen said. “Jose had that arrogance and was willing to be outspoken and fight for his team. He would get involved in some of the dark arts and obsess over details away from the pitch. Pep was more obsessed with pure football, whereas Jose was purely results-based. Jose would park the bus after taking a slender lead in a game, whereas Pep would demand a fourth, fifth or even sixth goal.”
During his time at Chelsea, Gudjohnsen helped the side to their first-ever Premier League title. And he states that this counts for more than being part of the famous Barcelona side that won the treble during the 2008/09 season. But there is a good reason why.
Pep Guardiola is much more of a football person, according to Eidur Gudjohnsen (Image credit: PA Images)
‘Winning the Premier League with Chelsea tops the treble at Barcelona – I got a real feeling of having earned that medal; Barça would have done it without me,” he said.
Get FourFourTwo Newsletter
The best features, fun and footballing quizzes, straight to your inbox every week.
“Winning the Premier League with Chelsea, as I played such a big part in that season. I think only Frank Lampard played in more games than me in 2004/05 and I got a real feeling of having earned that medal.
“I was more of a squad player at Barcelona in the treble year; they probably would have done it without me, but perhaps Chelsea wouldn’t have been able to win that season had I not fulfilled my role. To be honest, the greatest satisfaction from my time at Barcelona is in playing more than 100 times for one of the best teams in the world. Sometimes, Andres Iniesta and Ronaldinho were on the bench and I started. That makes me really proud.”
Jacque Talbot is a freelance football journalist who predominantly specialises in transfer stories and exclusives. He began his career in 2016 covering the world-renowned Sandbach United, of North West Counties fame, before earning a spot on the sports desks of national papers, where he bounced between several outlets such as Sportbible, the Express, Mirror, and Daily Star. An NCTJ graduate of the News Associates who swapped investigative journalism in the Costa del Sol for football reporting in Northern England, he first wrote for FourFourTwo in December 2023.
