What Pep Guardiola and Mauricio Pochettino’s relationship is really like behind the scenes

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Chelsea boss Mauricio Pochettino and Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola don’t have the best relationship behind the scenes.

That is according to The Independent.

The report claims that Mauricio Pochettino ‘doesn’t have the warmest relationship’ with Pep Guardiola.

Chelsea’s head coach has a great friendship with Arsenal’s Mikel Arteta, who previously worked as an assistant under Guardiola at the Etihad Stadium, but it’s not the same for his Manchester City counterpart.

Chelsea vs Man City next month should be fun

This is some fascinating speculation ahead of a meeting between Chelsea and Man City in mid-November in the Premier League.

There’s a big distance between the two teams right now in terms of quality and their respective journeys, but this could add some extra spice for a big fixture next month.

First of all, the Blues have got to negotiate league games against Arsenal, Brentford and Tottenham before facing defending champions Man City.

Speaking via ESPN this week, Frank Leboeuf has predicted Chelsea will kickstart this difficult set of fixtures with a surprise win at home to Arsenal on Saturday. The Blues’ season is going to have a very different outlook if they can do well in these tough games before November’s international break.

Mauricio Pochettino has poor record against Pep Guardiola

These two great coaches do have a long-standing rivalry in the sport, but it’s been pretty one-sided during their managerial careers.

Pochettino has directly faced Guardiola 22 times as a manager. Incidentally, it’s more than he’s faced any other individual in the dugout.

Pochettino has just the four victories in 22 attempts. There’s been five draws between them. Meanwhile, Guardiola boasts 13 wins.

You’re not going to get on with everybody in football, especially with such big characters who are laser-focused on winning. We’re sure there’s still mutual respect between the pair, though.

In fact, Guardiola called Pochettino an “excellent manager” back in 2021, as quoted by Sky Sports.