Jose Mourinho has never let go of the 2017/18 title race. Speaking two years ago ahead of Fenerbahce’s game against Manchester United, he revived the Jose Mourinho Man City dispute. He suggested he could still end up with a Premier League winner’s medal if City are punished over their 115 charges.
Mourinho finished second with Manchester United that season. He’s adamant the destination of that title isn’t settled yet. His comments back then resurface as Manchester City’s financial breach case drags on, with the outcome still capable of rewriting that campaign’s history.
Inside the Fenerbahce press conference
Mourinho didn’t need much prompting to raise the subject himself. Asked about the ongoing City case, he pointed straight back to the season United spent chasing Pep Guardiola’s side all the way to May.
“As you know, we won the Europa League [in 2017] and we finished second in the Premier League [in 2018]. I think we still have a chance to win that league because maybe they punish Man City with points and maybe we win that league and then they have to pay me the bonus and give me the medal.”
It’s a half-joking, half-serious line. But it tells you where Mourinho’s head is at. He still sees that United side as unfinished business, and he isn’t willing to let City’s dominance of the era go unchallenged.
For context on how that argument has developed since the title fight first resurfaced, Mourinho’s title claims face resistance from elsewhere in the game. Plenty of pundits remain unconvinced that any retrospective award would ever be handed out.
Guardiola’s six fingers vs Mourinho’s three fair titles
The spark for this row traces back to Guardiola himself. During City’s 2-0 defeat to Liverpool, he held up six fingers towards fans and reporters. It was a blunt reminder of his six Premier League titles since arriving in England.
Mourinho wasn’t about to let that gesture pass. He hit back hard.
“He (Guardiola) won six trophies and I won three, but I won fairly and cleanly. If I lost, I want to congratulate my opponent because he was better than me. I don’t want to win by dealing with 150 lawsuits.”
It’s a pointed dig, one that leans on the unresolved charges hanging over City. Guardiola had already brushed off the comparison when asked about it himself.
“I hope not in my case… He won three, I won six.”
Two very different readings of the same six years of English football. Mourinho’s three league titles came across three separate clubs, while Guardiola has stacked all six of his at City alone, and that contrast is never far from the surface whenever the Jose Mourinho Man City feud resurfaces.
Retrospective medals and former player reactions at Old Trafford
Mourinho isn’t the only figure from that United dressing room with an opinion here. According to the Manchester Evening News, former United players David de Gea and Juan Mata have both floated the same idea: that the 2017/18 title could still be handed to United retrospectively.
Finishing second to a City side now facing 115 charges has always felt like unfinished business for that squad, which pushed hard without ever quite catching Guardiola’s runaway leaders.
Whether any of it leads to actual silverware rests with the independent commission still working through City’s case. For now, it’s talk rather than outcome. But it’s talk that clearly still matters to the players and manager who lived through that campaign.
Mourinho’s time at Old Trafford has come up plenty since, including in his own revelations about his Old Trafford tenure. He still feels that season was taken from him, not lost fairly.
The full details of Mourinho’s press conference, along with Guardiola’s response, was first reported in the Manchester Evening News report.
