When Pep Guardiola and Jose Mourinho both arrived in Manchester, football fans thought we were going to see a similar battle between the two managers to what we saw in Spain.

Guardiola and Mourinho - in charge of Barcelona and Real Madrid respectively - were proper rivals as they went for glory in La Liga and the Champions League.

They regularly took aim at each other in press conferences and matches between the two clubs were feisty.

During the two seasons they spent in Spain together, they each won a La Liga title before Guardiola took a short break away from football.

But what made their clashes so intriguing was the difference in managerial styles.

Guardiola’s Barcelona played a glorious tika-taka style that dominated Europe during the four years he was charge. On the other hand, Mourinho often used slightly more direct tactics with the ‘win at all costs’ theory.

XAVI SLAMS MOURINHO'S TACTICS

And those tactics Mourinho used at Madrid have just been slated by Barcelona legend Xavi.

The Spanish midfielder has been talking about the difference in styles between Barca and Real and chose to focus on Mourinho’s Madrid and how they “don’t want to play football.”

“Mourinho's Madrid hit the ball direct over the top,” Xavi told El Pais.

“Mourinho told his players never to stop the ball, to play quickly and then [Angel] Di Maria, Cristiano [Ronaldo] or [Karim] Benzema would break. Now they do it with [Gareth] Bale. They don't want to play football."

XAVI: THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN BARCA AND REAL

The 37-year-old - who now plays for Al Sadd in Qatar - then went on to compare what differs between the two El Clasico rivals.

"Barcelona is the final exam for a player," Xavi added. 

"It is the most difficult club and the most demanding in the world. Madrid do not play so beautifully. At the Bernabeu, if a defender hoofs the ball into the stand it is fine. That is the culture. The fans applaud.

"At the Camp Nou you knock the ball into the stand and the grumbles are so loud it is negative. Since [Johan] Cruyff's time."

"Madrid break apart, seven players attack and Casemiro stays back on his own to cover the centre. [Barca midfielder Sergio] Busquets cannot do that as even I am faster than he is. Casemiro is super fast, but he has trouble with everything else as he has not worked on it.

"He has other characteristics, is more defensive, makes more tackles, covers more ground, but he does not dominate space-time. If you had started with Casemiro aged 12, 13, 15, then he would have that."

Brutal from Xavi.

As if Barca didn’t have enough to brag about right now - as they sit 16 points ahead of Madrid - Xavi has decided to stick the boot into their tactics.

Talk about kicking them while they’re down.