Iniesta blasts Mourinho, calls him a bad blooded coach

Andres Iniesta has accused Jose Mourinho of causing ‘hatred’ between Real Madrid and Barcelona players during his time at the Bernabeu. The current Manchester United boss spent three seasons with Madrid and won three trophies with the Spanish giants, most memorably beating Barca to the La Liga title in 2011/12. Mourinho and Pep Guardiola established a rivalry which would come to define the league in those years and the pair had numerous clashes on the touchline. This tension often spilled over onto the pitch and Barca legend Iniesta believes that ‘lines were crossed’ when Mourinho was at the helm.

 ‘Mourinho was the key component in the bad blood between Barcelona and Real Madrid in that era. Lines were crossed,’ he told laSexta. ‘This caused a lot of harm in the national team. It was surreal. You didn’t see rivalry, you saw hatred. The environment was cultivated and unbearable.’

Iniesta’s former Barcelona team-mate Xavi recently admitted that he ‘doesn’t enjoy’ Mourinho’s style of football. ‘Mourinho is a very defensive manager and playing against his Inter hasn’t been easy,’ Xavi told Corriere dello Sport last month. ‘That’s his football and he put it in practice even with Chelsea and Real.

‘He cares about all the details, he shuts all the gaps and he doesn’t give you much space. ‘I like another kind of football. It’s not a criticism to him, but I don’t enjoy playing football in that way and my teams won’t ever have that attitude.’