Mourinho and Ronaldo, the two Portuguese men did not always share the best and most cordial of relationships, especially in the last year of Mourinho’s reign at the Santiago Bernabeu. He then left the Spanish capital and returned to Chelsea, the club where he enjoyed plenty of success previously.

Quitting Real Madrid this summer to go back to Chelsea was a somewhat acrimonious affair as Mourinho expressed his ‘delight’ at coming back to London while accusing Real Madrid as he said, “Madrid is politics. Madrid is not about football, Madrid is not about sport.”

He has now continued his tirade against his former team’s superstar Ronaldo who reportedly had some behind-the-scenes differences with him. As Chelsea prepare to face off against Real Madrid, he has taken a swipe at him by praising the Brazilian legend Ronaldo who shares his name with the world’s most expensive player, and saying that he was the ‘real’ Ronaldo.

“I was manager for the first time in 2000 but, before that, I was assistant in big clubs and with big managers and coaching the best players in the world, so I was 30 and I was coaching Ronaldo, not this one [Cristiano], the real one, the Brazilian Ronaldo,” Daily Mail quoted him as saying.

Ronaldo has been much more civil and has preferred not to speak out against Mourinho’s comments as he replied, “There are some things in life that don’t deserve any mention. This is one of those things and I won’t comment on it for obvious reasons. I always respect my coaches and try to learn from them.”

“As we say in Portugal, “I don’t spit on the plate I eat on.” That’s how I feel. I prefer to try and remember the positive side [to Mourinho].”

With Mourinho in no mood to let bygones be bygones, what do we have in store when he and Ronaldo actually face-off as the two giants of European football go head-to-head? Which one of them will have the last laugh in this personal battle of theirs?