Jose Mourinho responded to comments Pep Guardiola made this week in typical fashion, as he claimed that he won his three Premier League titles "fairly".
Guardiola has won the league six times since arriving in England but recently presided over the worst spell of his managerial career as Manchester City went on a seven-match winless run.
Following City's 2-0 loss to Liverpool at Anfield at the start of December, thousands of Reds fans jocularly chanted "you're getting sacked in the morning" in the direction of Guardiola, and the Catalan responded by holding up six fingers — one for each Premier League title he has won as City manager.
That moment was mentioned to Guardiola by Guardian journalist Jamie Jackson ahead of City's game against Nottingham Forest, as he said to the City manager: "Some people are looking at that as a sign you're losing your cool. Jose Mourinho famously did this, meaning he had won three Premier Leagues once. People are comparing what you did with what Mourinho did that day, and some people think that was the beginning of the end for Jose."
Guardiola responded: "I hope not in my case. In the end maybe we are quite similar like Jose — but he won three and I won six."
Mourinho was never likely to let that comment lie, as he alluded to City's ongoing legal battle with the Premier League when he told Turkish outlet Hurriyet: “I want to win, but I want to win cleanly and fairly. If I can’t win cleanly, I’d rather lose. Guardiola told me something like this. He won six trophies and I won three, but I won fairly and cleanly. If I lost, I want to congratulate my opponent for being better than me. I don’t want to win by dealing with 150 cases.”