Arguably the two best soccer minds of our time are set to reignite a rivalry that stretches back as far as 2011 as they look to lead their teams out in the harsh weather of Beijing tomorrow to get their first taste of derby action.
The match is expected to take place at the unique Bird Nest stadium tomorrow by 12:30 noon (GMT + 1) if recent torrential rainfall and bad weather conditions allow.
Jose Mourinho will be looking to quickly banish the effects of the 4:1 hammering of his team at the hands of Borussia Dortmund while Pep Guardiola will hope to make a statement win against his rival in their first meeting and banish all memories of his loss against former club Bayern Munich.
Mourinho will be hoping that new signing Henrikh Mkhitaryan can continue his good displays while Pep will be leaning heavily on the services on experienced front man Sergio Aguero to help him record another win against the man he has triumphed over quite an impressive number of times.
Both coaches are no strangers to derby atmosphere having faced off time and time again managing the best teams and players in the world (Real Madrid and Barcelona) competing for the biggest trophies. Fans will remember the eye gouging incident after a 5 nil thrashing of Real Madrid, the many press conferences discussing one another and many other events that show how much these coaches go to protect their honor and the clubs they manage .
Well here we are with a similar but no less exciting scenario with both coaches now at the helm of the two biggest clubs in Manchester with different sort of histories and traditions they have to protect and nurture.
Make no mistake, there might be no eye gouging, bad mouthing or any form of hostility on display tomorrow with Pep even stating he will shake Mourinho's hand but be rest assured that none of these two head coaches will want to give ground to the other tomorrow so early in their respective Manchester careers. You can count on that.
See you at the Bird Nest, remember if weather conditions allow.
Lets all hope it does.
WS Readers, please drop your predictions for the game.
For me, I predict a balanced game with lots of goals ending in a draw.
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