Roberto Mancini has done his best to play it all down. "This game is not Mourinho-Mancini or Mancini-Mourinho. This game is Real Madrid-Manchester City," was his response to a recent question.
And yet in a Champions League tie filled with sub-plots and side stories, there is a fascination in seeing Europe's two most highly paid managers pit their wits against each other at the Bernabeu.
They have met as managers only once before when Mancini's Lazio played Porto nine years ago in the Uefa Cup. Jose Mourinho came out on top on that occasion - despite a touchline ban for the second leg - to lead his team to his first European trophy.
They have not met since that match in 2003 and yet there is a sense that a rivalry and tension has developed even without direct confrontations. Despite that, their respect for each other is without question.
"Jose is one of the best in the world," Manchester City boss Mancini said of his Real Madrid rival.
Mancini and Mourinho in focus
•The four managers with the best win percentage in Premier League history (having managed more than 50 games) are Jose Mourinho 71%, Sir Alex Ferguson 65%, Carlo Ancelotti 63% and Roberto Mancini 62%
•Mancini is the third manager to win both the Serie A and Premier League titles (along with Mourinho and Ancelotti)
•Mourinho's Chelsea team of 2004-05 still hold the record for the fewest goals conceded in a 38-game top flight campaign (15)
"But people should forget the managers. It's the players who will decide the game. What happens outside the pitch is not important."
The parallels between both men are clear to see, right down to their tailored coats and penchant for distinctive scarves. Both have turned ambitious and extremely wealthy English football clubs into title winners and both led Inter to the coveted Serie A scudetto.
And yet when you look more closely, there are also notable differences. Lots of them.
As a player, Mourinho was a relative pauper, lacking the ability to follow in his father's footsteps and turn professional. Mancini was the prince, an outlandish talent, a cavalier and a character during a glittering career with Sampdoria, Lazio and Italy that led his adoring fans and compatriots to claim he was "baciato dalla grazia" or "kissed by good fortune".
It is Mourinho, however, who has had the upper hand in the managerial stakes, having won two Champions Leagues - with Porto in 2004 and Inter in 2010 - and league titles in Portugal, England, Italy and Spain, all carried off with an aura reminiscent of the greats of the past.
But if Mourinho and Real represent the pinnacle of the game, established football royalty, Mancini and City are the upstarts, the nouveau riche who believe they can overthrow the established order.
"We don't have the history of Real Madrid," Mancini added. "But Manchester City have won trophies in the past and the important thing is that I think we will win trophies now. Wait for the next 10 or 20 years.
Alex Ferguson sees similarities
"We had to contend with Jose's management style, which was very effective. He did a fantastic job [at Chelsea]. You knew you were competing against a very clever manager. You weren't just facing the money, you were facing a very united squad. They were hard to beat. City are very similar to Chelsea at that time."
"OK, we can't win like Real Madrid because they have been winning for 50 years. But we are winning things now and we want to continue that if it is possible. In the next 10 years I think Manchester City will become a top team like Real Madrid."
Both men revel in football's mind games. On this occasion, Mourinho has fired the first shots. "Real Madrid is Real Madrid," he said.
"It's the real thing. A club no football result, no cup competition, no coach, no player can ever change. Real Madrid is a club like no other. It's incomparable with any other club in the world. There is no team anywhere that can be compared with Real Madrid. None.
"Remember I was in Portugal, England and Italy before coming here to Madrid, so I know what I am saying. There are great clubs but the pressure and the expectation is the greatest here at Real Madrid. It is huge but it is an enjoyable pressure, not a suffocating one."
Neither man comes cheap but Mourinho remains something of a hired gun, whose trigger finger is known to become itchy every three of four seasons. Roman Abramovich craved a title at Chelsea, Inter longed for European dominance and Real Madrid wanted to overtake Barcelona. Mourinho made it happen and until now, moved on.
Mancini, by contrast, is a builder. He likes a structure and a plan. It was Mourinho who led Inter to the Champions League, but Mancini laid the foundations in the three previous years. "I won seven trophies in three years but not the Champions League," Mancini added.
"Sometimes it is not your moment. You prepare, but in this competition you need luck."
The well-publicised tension between Mourinho and Mancini dates back to those days and the changing of the guard in 2008. That the "Special One" agreed a three-year deal to become manager of Inter before Mancini had left the San Siro has not been forgotten.
Nor has Mourinho's claim that Mario Balotelli was "unmanageable". In many ways their differences as managers and men is borne out by their treatment of Balotelli. Mourinho made that statement about the fiery Italian, having grown tired of his nuances.
Mancini picked up the pieces, rebuilt his raw talent, his fragile confidence and, with a few well-publicised exceptions, has reaped the benefit.
"On a personal level I would say Mancini and then Mourinho," Balotelli said when asked to rate them as managers in January.
"A coach has to bring 100% out of a player and Mancini is brilliant at doing just that. The Premier League has been a new experience, even if at first it was difficult. But if I have to tell the whole truth now, it's that I'm really happy."
Mancini and Mourinho are different men, different managers. Where they find common ground is in their overriding and unquenchable passion for the game.
Come kick-off, the cameras will train their lenses on the vast array of talent on the field - Cristiano Ronaldo, Xabi Alonso, Mesut Ozil, Yaya Toure, David Silva - the list goes on. But the dynamic in the dugout is likely to be just as compelling.
Arsene Wenger says playing Manchester City will test Arsenal's title credentials
Arsene Wenger believes a trip to reigning champions Manchester City will provide an early indication of Arsenal's chances of challenging for the Premier League title.
Arsenal have enjoyed a positive start to this season, in sharp contrast to 12 months ago, and have followed up opening 0-0 draws with wins over Liverpool and Southampton.
Wenger will take his team to the Etihad Stadium on Sunday above City on goal difference before Arsenal face current leaders Chelsea the following weekend.
The Gunners boss feels his side have a chance of being in title contention this term and expects to learn more about his players after facing City.
"We will know that after 10 games," said Wenger of Arsenal's title chances. "I think we have a chance. But do we develop well, do we keep our attitude?
"I think we have a chance but at the moment I don't know how strong our opponents are. We've not played against any of the title contenders yet.
"We won the championship in 2004 and we played against Chelsea in November the following season and I finished the game thinking: 'We've just played against the new champions'.
"It will be important to see how we do against the bigger teams. It will be interesting.
"It will be a test next Sunday but for us the most important part will be to maintain our level of performance that we showed against Southampton and go from game to game."
Arsenal lost Robin van Persie over the summer and Wenger suggested his side are starting to cope without the presence of last season's leading scorer.
He added: "We are famous for having good passing and team play.
"Sometimes an individual grows up and becomes the main charisma and carrier of the team and then people notice only him, but we've always built around the team player.
"Van Persie scored 30 goals and when you score 30 goals everyone gives you the ball. That's as simple as that.
"Our game at the moment is a little bit more diversified but let's see how we deal with that in the big games.
"We have to go from game to game. The last two games were interesting."
Paris St-Germain to sign Mario Balotelli?
Magnifique! French media seem to be getting all the best scoops these days. First, some sleuthing French gloss-sheet revealed that Kate Middleton has breasts. And now some Seine-side organ has discovered that Paris St-German are planning a big spending spree. While the first of those scoops had the additional merit of exposing the hypocrisy of the seedier sections of the British media ("how dare they breach a lady's privacy like that!?" mewled many while simultaneously carrying ultra-zoomed stills of ladies' skirts riding high as they step out of a car), the PSG news flash has the merit of helping to comply with the official European Union quota of Mario Balotelli stories, Brussels having issued a directive stipulating that every media outlet must mention the Italian striker at least once a day for the rest of his natural born life.
Some media have fallen short of that requirement recently, with Eurocrats said to be alarmed by the British publications' sudden refusal to carry reports of Balotelli going to the toilet, eating in a restaurant or buying a hat. "It's political correctness gone mad!" howled one Luxembourg MEP. "Do those workshy British hacks honestly expect us to believe that Mr Balotelli doesn't need to empty his bowels any more?!" bellowed a senior German diplomat. Fortunately the Mill is always ready to do its duty so today can happily regurgitate the claim that Paris St-German are preparing a January swoop for Mr Balotelli, who, we can add exclusively, is expected to use a lavatory at some point this morning.
Assuming they are still in Champions League contention come January, PSG will also splash out on Santos's automatic headline generator, Neymar, and a 21-year-old Colombian by the name of Pedro Franco. He's a defensive midfielder currently on the books of Millonarios Bogotá, according to top insider Wikipedia.
With PSG buying up players like there's no tomorrow and as if buying up players would be a sensible thing to do if there were no tomorrow, Manchester City are starting to fret that they may come after more than just Balotelli. Which is one of the reasons why there readying to tie David Silva down to a new contract worth £200,000 per week. Another of the reason is that Real Madrid are also nosing around the Spaniard. Guardian
Silva strikes gold at City with £200k a week deal despite Real interest
Manchester City are on the verge of agreeing a new £200,000-a-week contract with forward David Silva.
The club have been negotiating with Silva all summer as they look to tie one of Europe's hottest properties to a deal for the next five years.
As reported last month, talks reached a worrying stalemate during pre-season as City struggled to deal with the Spaniard's wage demands.
However, it is understood the arrival of Spanish chief executive Ferran Soriano has given the issue fresh impetus and the club are hopeful of agreeing terms within two weeks.
Tuesday night's Champions League opponents Real Madrid have been tracking Silva's situation at the Etihad Stadium and have asked the 26-year-old's representatives to keep them informed of any problem with his negotiations with City.
Silva is aware of Madrid's interest and has been tempted by a return to Spain.
However, he now looks certain to commit himself to City for the best years of his career.
The club have structured Silva's new deal to give him a basic wage that puts him around the pay levels enjoyed by top earners Carlos Tevez, Vincent Kompany and Yaya Toure.
The incentives are such, though, that success in the Premier League and Champions League over the coming seasons will see his pay tip the £250,000-a-week mark.
MCF.net THREAD: viewtopic.php?f=119&t=44002
Peter Crouch has admitted he handled the ball in the build-up to his goal against Manchester City on Saturday. Guardian
Jose Mourinho questions players ahead of Real Madrid v Man City
Real Madrid manager Jose Mourinho has questioned his side's commitment just two days before they meet Manchester City in the Champions League.
The Spanish champions have slipped eight points behind leaders Barcelona after Saturday's 1-0 defeat at Sevilla.
Mourinho said: "We have only really played well in the Spanish Super Cup. Nowhere else. I am worried that in this moment I don't have a team.
"There are very few heads who are committed and concentrated."
Nine-times European champions Real play host to City in their opening group game of this season's Champions League on Tuesday.
Mourinho added: "When you don't have people who are committed, it's tough.
"But I am the coach, and if there are people who aren't committed it is my fault."
Barcelona, who Real beat to win the Spanish Super Cup in August, cruised past Getafe 4-1 to maintain their 100% league record this season.
Real, who began their campaign with a 1-1 draw at home to Valencia before losing to Getafe and beating Granada, conceded a goal after only two minutes against Sevilla when Piotr Trochowski volleyed home.
And Mourinho had no complaints about the result.
"Congratulations to Sevilla, they deserved to win without any doubt," said the former Chelsea boss. "We got the prize we deserved considering how badly we played.
"At the break, I changed two players but I wanted to change seven.
"The image of my team at this moment is a team without concentration, without the willingness to compete.
"For Sevilla, every ball was the last one in their life. They played with perfect aggression in everything. They wanted to play quickly, move the ball quickly.
"My team did it against Barcelona and haven't done it in any other game."
Mourinho refused to blame Cristiano Ronaldo for his side's early-season wobbles. The world's most expensive player said he felt "sad" for "professional reasons" following the win over Granada.
"It's got nothing to do with the rumour of the last two weeks," said Mourinho. "I don't think today was any different to the games we played against Getafe or Granada. To me, it's to do with the collective spirit."
Manchester City legends paid tribute to Heroes
City legends paid tribute to the country’s real heroes with a game at Hyde to raise more than £1,000 for charity Help the Heroes, writes Matt Cunningham.
More than 1,000 fans saw a Joe Corrigan XI win 4-1 to lift the Ken Barnes Community Cup. It was awarded by June Barnes, widow of Ken, in honour of the former chief scout who won the FA Cup with City in 1956Stars who featured included former skipper Richard Edghill, Ian Bishop, Asa Hartford, Jeff Whitley, Steve Redmond and Ken’s son, the former City winger Peter.
Gold medal-winning Paralympians Sarah Storey and her husband Barney were guests of honour.
PUMA KIT BOLLOX
Puma chief hails Manchester City signing
Puma chief executive Franz Koch has hailed Manchester City and Argentina striker Sergio Aguero as “an incredible performer” and the perfect expression of the Puma brand.
Aguero, who signed a multi-million dollar deal with the German sportswear company in September, has become the centrepiece of Puma’s soccer marketing strategy.
The company has become renowned in recent years for sponsoring a variety of African national soccer teams, but has signed a string of high-profile personal endorsement deals in the sport over the last year.
Koch, who became chief executive last summer, described the process that Puma undertakes when signing brand ambassadors in an exclusive interview with SportsPro.
Performance is important, Koch explained, but not nearly as important as personality. “Everything we do has to have a joyful component, be it product or be it marketing, no matter what,” he said. “And I think you see that reflected also in our sports marketing ambassadors. Usain Bolt is obviously the perfect expression of that with his high performance but also his light hearted and joyful attitude.
“You can also copy and paste that in other areas; take football as another example – Kun Aguero, an incredible performer; he just decided the Premier League in the last minute, but he’s such a nice, light-hearted person at the same time; he’s very social, very funny and there’s always a smile on his face. And that’s incredibly important for us when making a choice on particular sports marketing teams or athletes, that they express what Puma stands for as a brand, because that needs to carry through to consumers at the end of the day.”
Koch explains that he personally is involved with all Puma’s major marketing deals. Local company executives will feed information back to Puma HQ in Herzogenaurach, Germany, where the Puma sports marketing team will draw up a long-list of targets in various sports categories. The list will be narrowed down before Koch himself steps in before any deal is closed.
“It wasn’t difficult with Aguero really,” he says, “because his talent is undisputed. But what was really smart with Aguero was his connection to Maradona, through his wife. That was an obvious story for us, having been the long-term partner of Maradona in the past. This was a great story for us to tell, and he’s an incredible performance athlete at the same time and it’s paying off – you can see that.”
Manchester title race: +1pt, +2gd
TW@TTER HANDSHAKE BOLLOX
Josh Hobbs on Twitter: "Remember the uproar when Sepp Blatter suggested racism could be solved by a handshake? Why do we now seem to support that?"
dumph on Twitter: "Just shake hands to show sportsmanship and get on with insults about wives, mistresses, mothers...whilst diving, tugging etc."
Aaron Wakelin on Twitter: "Would anyone realistically expect Haaland and Keane to shake hands? Stupid ritual, get rid. Leave it up to players afterwards."
OTHER BOLLOX
Everton manager David Moyes is planning a move for former Celtic keeper Artur Boruc, 32, who is a free agent after leaving Fiorentina. Various
Manchester United chief executive David Gill will hold talks with Liverpool managing director Ian Ayre to calm tensions between the clubs before they meet at Anfield on Sunday. Daily Telegraph
[strike]And Liverpool forward Luis Suarez has been ordered to make peace with Manchester United defender Patrice Evra following last season's racism row. Daily Cunt[/strike]
Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson believes youngster Nick Powell, 18, can be a long-term replacement for veteran midfielder Paul Scholes. Sun
And Ferguson has vowed he will never let his players ease off in games again after losing the Premier League title on goal difference last season. Daily Mirror
Rangers boss Ally McCoist insists he is not embarrassed despite his side failing to win any of their away matches in the Scottish Third Division this season. Daily Record
Arsenal midfielder Jack Wilshere, 20, is set to return to training this week after a year out with foot and knee injuries. Daily Mirror
Celtic manager Neil Lennon has threatened sweeping changes for Wednesday's Champions League clash with Benfica after defeat at St Johnstone. Daily Record
Former Liverpool defender Alan Kennedy reckons they wil struggle to finish in the Premier League's top six this season. talkSPORT
Former Blackburn boss Paul Ince has emerged as the favourite to land the vacant Coventry City manager's job. Sun
New Stoke striker Michael Owen took to Twitter to provide live commentary on a burglar trying to break into his house. Metro
more bollox later ...
