WHEN Pep Guardiola and Mauricio Pochettino greet each other on the Etihad sidelines tomorrow, any smiles will be as fake as a politician’s promise.
No matter that both have a shared heritage in Barcelona.
Mauricio Pochettino and Pep Guardiola lock horns at the Etihad once againRichard Pelham / The Sun
But behind their fake smiles of greeting will be daggersRex
That both are devotees of attacking football.
Even though they have more than enough mutual rivals.
The reality is that, not since the truly septic, poisonous and unhealthy spat between Jose Mourinho and Arsene Wenger, have two Prem managers been more at daggers drawn.
In the light blue corner, the spiky genius of Guardiola.
A man who sees any and every mild criticism as a personal slight.
And in the dark blue one, staring up from mid-table mediocrity, Poch, whose antagonism towards someone he believes was unfairly gifted everything on a silver platter has intensified with every passing season.
But this is not like the Varsity Boat Race, a historical rivalry lost in the mists of time.
It is a deeply personal grudge, initially fostered in the city they both came to call home but which has played out on English territory for more than half a decade.
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In 2008, as Barcelona looked for a successor to Frank Rijkaard, two of the candidates were obvious.
Guardiola, a product of the academy at La Masia, a Camp Nou legend, and Mourinho, who had worked at the club under Bobby Robson and Louis van Goal before his triumphs at Porto and Chelsea.
But the third contender was a fledgling managerial option, his playing days across the Catalan capital at Espanyol having ended two years earlier.
It was, perhaps, no surprise that Pochettino was overlooked. After all, he was still completing his UEFA Pro Licence badge.
But the snub resonated deeply within him, even though he was handed the Espanyol reins just a few months later, a significant contributory factor in his subsequent and repeated insistence that he could “never” manage Barca.
As Guardiola’s astonishing debut management season unrolled, ending in a Treble capped with a Champions League final win over Manchester United in Rome, Poch fumed even more deeply.
His belief was that Guardiola was being garlanded for picking a side anyone could have selected: who wouldn’t win if they had Xavi, Andres Iniesta, the emerging genius of Lionel Messi, Thierry Henry and Samuel Eto’o in their team?
The gripe festered, only briefly eased as the Argentine moved to England, first at Southampton, then at Spurs.
But burst into life once again when Manchester City’s three-year quest to land Guardiola became a reality in 2016.
Initially, it was Poch who had the upper hand.
Spurs, without the injured Harry Kane, ended Guardiola’s 100 per cent start to the season, snagged a draw at the Etihad and finished the season eight points and a place higher.
But in a signpost of what was to come for a manager he said needed to be “humble, not arrogant” he pointed out: “Guardiola had the possibility to manage Barcelona and Messi. I had to do it the hard way.”
The following season, though, the sniping began in earnest.
Pochettino was furious when, in an off-hand comment, Guardiola talked about “the Harry Kane team” – the Argentine felt it was unacceptable
He shot back: “Sometimes he can struggle to keep his position and be a gentleman. It was very disrespectful for many people.
“It wasn’t necessary to say that. It was a sad comment.”
Guardiola subsequently apologised, but the die was cast. A simmering feud that regularly broke out behind the scenes, even if not publicly.
Both men struggle to hide their personal disdain for the other, revelling in any misfortune that befalls their rival.
Even in victory after Spurs’ 2019 Champions League quarter-final win over City, Poch took umbrage with some reporters who had the temerity to ask questions of his rival. He saw it as a kind of betrayal.
After Pochettino was sacked by Spurs, Guardiola ran the roost on his own, dominating the Prem and finally landing that elusive Champions League title.
But the Argentine’s return last summer allowed the cudgels to be drawn again.
Pochettino failed to shake Guardiola’s hand after Cole Palmer’s stoppage-time penalty secured a 4-4 draw at the Bridge in November, insisting he had “not seen him”.
Guardiola brushed that off but is known to feel Pochettino’s struggles at Chelsea have not been put under the same scrutiny as he felt directed at home during City’s December mini-slump.
Now they meet again, this time at the Etihad. Watch what they say about each other today. And what they don’t say.