Richard Williams in the Guardian already has Fergie one nil down to Jose:
‘It took Jose Mourinho exactly 90 minutes to light Sir Alex Ferguson's fuse. At the end of the first meeting between FC Porto and Manchester United in last season's European Cup, after Mourinho's side had won the match and Roy Keane had been sent off for using the opposing goalkeeper's body as a triple-jump runway, the United manager pointedly ignored his rival's outstretched hand as he rushed down the tunnel at the Estadio do Dragao.
‘Afterwards the young Portuguese coach laced compassion with poison in lethal proportions. "I can understand him being a little sad," a straight-faced Mourinho said, "because his team were clearly dominated by a team who have maybe 10% of his budget." We were witnessing the first shots in a rivalry that currently grips English football, and which will be resumed tonight at Stamford Bridge when United arrive to tackle Mourinho's Chelsea in the first leg of their Carling Cup semi-final.
‘And yet, despite Mourinho's instant response to Ferguson's snub last year, Chelsea's new manager has managed to stay above the continuing, and increasingly tedious, exchange of insults between his two chief rivals.
‘"I think it's worked to his advantage," Howard Wilkinson, the last English-born manager to win the domestic championship, said this week. "One's been firing arrows from the top of one hill, the other's been doing the same from the other hill, and Mourinho's crept up the valley. So far he's got away with it. Perhaps he'll get dragged in eventually. But he's got a very clear idea of who he is and what he's good at, and of what works and what doesn't."’