Guardiola dismisses Mourinho comparisons

Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola says he is not interested in being compared with Real Madrid counterpart Jose Mourinho.

The pair and their teams have clashed throughout Mourinho’s time in the Spanish capital with Barcelona dominating the majority of the matches between the rivals.

Guardiola joined the Catalan club in 2008 and has seen his side dominate at home and abroad.

Mourinho’s arrival was expected to challenge Barcelona but the Portuguese could not prevent Guardiola taking his third league title and his second Champions League trophy last term.

Real are primed to break the Catalans’ domestic dominance, however, leading their rivals by 10 points in La Liga this term.

“I know Real Madrid’s coach says I am at his level now,” Guardiola said. “That is not what I intend to do.”

“The fact that he wants to win and we want to win makes us alike. That is right. He is a competitive animal and he wants to win as much as I want to win. There is no doubt about that.”

Despite trailing Real by a considerable margin, Guardiola insists he is proud of the way his side plays their football.

“We have the ball seven out of ten minutes,” he said. “This is the biggest sign of honesty and love towards the game – that is it.”

“Beyond that everything can be interpreted. We all want to win, but our ways are different. We have always shown fair play while doing things and our players have been an example of all this. And the world recognises that.”

Guardiola’s side can close that gap on Real when they take on Racing Santander on Sunday.

Racing, meanwhile, are struggling at the wrong end of the table and are without a win in their last seven matches.