“To me, a sabbatical year means weakness.” That is what José Mourinho, 63, said in the Netflix documentary ‘The Special One’, which premieres on August 11, 2026. He did not mention anyone by name, but half the football world understood the message instantly: it was aimed directly at Pep Guardiola.
Guardiola, 53, took a sabbatical year when he left Barcelona before joining Bayern Múnich in 2013, and he is expected to do the same when his time at Manchester City comes to an end. Mourinho went even further: “Don’t talk to me about sabbatical years. I never need to rest. I will rest when I die”, and he concluded by assuring that he plans to remain on the sidelines for at least 10 more years.
The tension between the two did not remain just words. According to Infobae, Guardiola’s entourage would have agreed to appear in the documentary only if Mourinho invited him in person, something the Portuguese refused to do. Thus, the Catalan ended up out of a project that, without mentioning his name, talks about him all the time.