José Mourinho said he would not go out of his way to avoid Manuel Pellegrini but the Chelsea manager left no one in any doubt as to how he felt about his rival at Manchester City, with whom he has clashed in the past.

“I don’t have a relationship [with him], no nothing,” Mourinho said, before Chelsea’s visit to City on Sunday. “I don’t have his phone number, he doesn’t have my phone number. If I walk in Sloane Street [in Chelsea] and I see him, I don’t run away from him. I tell him: ‘Hello. How are you? What do you do here?’

“He has done a good job, he has a fantastic group of players. He was champion in his first season and in the second season he wasn’t champion but he lost the title to a team that had a fantastic season.”