Gerard Pique gave fascinating insight into Guardiola vs Mourinho during interview with Gary Neville

The Pep Guardiola and Jose Mourinho rivalry in the early 2010s was truly epic.

While they were in charge of Barcelona and Real Madrid respectively, the two managerial greats engaged in some heated battles – both on and off the pitch.

Their press conferences were pure box office and the El Clasico fixtures with those two in the dugouts were ridiculously entertaining.

The fact Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo came face-to-face in the games also added an enormous amount to the occasion.

But while the rivalry was great for the fans, Gerard Pique believes it ultimately had a detrimental effect on Guardiola.

By 2012, just two years after Mourinho arrived in Spain, the current Manchester City boss left Barcelona.

When speaking to Gary Neville on The Overlap, Pique claimed that Mourinho’s off-field antics were simply “too much” for Guardiola.

Interesting pic.twitter.com/UuNyfTAYG3

The Spaniard said: “We were winning everything at the time and I remember the first time Mourinho came to the Camp Nou he lost 5-0 against us.

“It was a shock of reality of ‘woah, these guys go hard’. Mourinho in the press conference, he was every day… you know his style. I think Guardiola at some point, it was too much. It was more important what was happening off the pitch instead of on it.

“I remember at the end of the day, Guardiola left, Mourinho had won the league that year, and all of a sudden he decided to leave. I’m sure part of it is, with Mourinho, it was too much.”

Interesting. During Barcelona and Real Madrid’s spectacular Champions League semi-final tie in 2010/11, Guardiola gave what Pique referred to as an “amazing press conference”.

However, the Barcelona defender believes it was the moment that it all stopped being about the