🤔❓ What If ... Barcelona hired José Mourinho over Pep Guardiola | OneFootball

Cast your mind back to 2008.

Pep Guardiola was Barcelona B head coach but had no other experience as a manager.

First team boss Frank Rijkaard was leaving. José Mourinho was courted.

Barcelona made the surprise move for Guardiola, a decision that led them to the greatest era in their history.

But what if they’d gone for Mourinho instead?

Barcelona’s golden era

The golden age of Barcelona would have looked very different … or may not have happened at all.

It must be remembered that Mourinho was at the very top of his game – he went on to win the treble with Inter two years later –  and could’ve done something very special at Camp Nou. But he would’ve had to do so without the same players.

Xavi already wanted to leave when Guardiola was appointed and needed convincing to stay. While Sergio Busquets and Pedro would have found the jump from B team to first-team much harder without Guardiola bringing them through.

Instead of intense pressing and constant control, Barcelona would have gone against the club’s traditional values to play the Mourinho way.

Carles Puyol probably would have thrived with Eric Abidal and Gerard Piqué in defence. Seydou Keïta would’ve been crucial in midfield alongside Yaya Touré, who wouldn’t agitate for a move to Manchester City after playing regularly in his favourite position.

With Xavi already gone, Andrés Iniesta would probably get the nod as a hard-working number 10.

Samuel Eto’o, Thierry Henry and Lionel Messi would’ve given Mourinho his dream counterattacking machine and there’s a chance this team would have won the treble in 2009 anyway, but we have our money on somebody else picking up the Champions League …

Mourinho’s 2008 Barcelona XI: Valdés; Alves, Puyol, Piqué, Abidal; Touré, Keïta; Messi, Iniesta, Eto’o; Henry.

There’s little doubt Mourinho would’ve had some success but long-term gains such as a lasting philosophy and player development would have been sacrificed and ageing players wouldn’t be replaced by would-be La Masia graduates.

Mourinho would have exhausted those around him, fallen out with players, been criticised for his approach and left the club having burned all possible bridges by 2011.

José Mourinho

What next, though?

Mourinho would have had an ambition to conquer Italy, though the way football moved on would have meant he never got his hands on the Champions League while in Serie A.

He’d have then gone back to Spain to join – you know it – Real Madrid, hoping to upset Barcelona as much as possible.

By now it’s 2013 and Pep Guardiola (more on him later) is enjoying his time at Camp Nou. The two inevitably clashed but Guardiola – the man with the modern take on the modern game – would’ve come out on top.

A return to Chelsea, honestly, seems like it was always inevitable and the Manchester United job was always on Mourinho’s mind. He’d have got himself there eventually.

Lionel Messi

It shouldn’t ever be forgotten that José Mourinho, despite all the stereotypes, has won a place in the hearts of Mesut Özil and Eden Hazard. And they have a place in his.

So we can kiss goodbye the idea that Mourinho doesn’t value gifted players who may not appear to be the most hard-working. Which brings us to Messi.

Under the Portuguese, Messi would’ve been encouraged to work harder but never would’ve moved centrally, the switch that all but secured his place as one of the very best players of all time. But he still would’ve been used, he still would have delivered.

One thing about Messi is that he rarely – if ever – does anything flashy for the sake of it. And Mourinho would’ve liked that about him.

It is, though, fair to say he likely would’ve clashed with a coach who doesn’t always encourage expressions and tends to value pragmatism over individual ability.

The chances of us seeing Messi in the Premier League at some point would have been much, much higher.

Cristiano Ronaldo and Manchester United

With Barcelona not quite the same force, Manchester United and Sir Alex Ferguson would have found a way to win the 2009 Champions League, becoming the first club to retain the trophy since Milan 20 years before.

Cristiano Ronaldo still left the club, though, to join Real Madrid. While there, he wouldn’t play for Mourinho until much later in his career. Maybe his development would have been affected too?

Not to mention the fact he wouldn’t have had the same Messi pushing him further and further to realise his full potential.

As for Sir Alex Ferguson’s side, they may well have gone on to also win Europe’s top prize in 2011, leaving the Scot on three Champions League titles and leaving the club even with Liverpool’s then-British record of five.

What of Guardiola?

Would Pep Guardiola, with his philosophy, really have worked alongside Mourinho at Barcelona? It seems unlikely.

Maybe he would have done one more year with the B team, waiting for his chance to step up, but who would have given it to a man with his modest CV?

Perhaps FC Porto – the club where Mourinho made his name – might have. The Portuguese club appointed André Villas-Boas, an ex-Mourinho pupil, in 2010 but Guardiola could have put himself forward for that job instead and revolutionised modern football from outside of Spain.

With Busquets and Pedro struggling to get into Mourinho’s side, Guardiola could have whisked them away to Portugal, where they’d have featured in some mightily impressive Champions League runs. Think Ajax in 2019.

And then? Well, Guardiola would’ve gone back for the Barcelona job, of course, replacing Mourinho at Camp Nou in 2011.

But with Xavi gone and Messi not as developed, things wouldn’t have been easy. Guardiola would’ve gone a long way eventually – that much is clear – but we bet his trophy cabinet would be a whole lot emptier than it is right now.