Their next much awaited clash is on Wednesday, 6 March 2024 and what is going to make this encounter most exciting, is the fact that coaches from both sides have been at loggerheads in the past few weeks.

There has been an exchange of very unsavoury verbal altercations between the two coaches over the media.

It is common knowledge that there is no love lost between the two coaches who are going to meet for the first time since their little fracas started.

Players from both sides will definitely be psyched up, because they are aware of the animosity that exists between their coaches.

Each and every player on match day will be highly motivated to do well for his coach however, too much motivation can easily lead to recklessness if unchecked.

There is a very thin line between being highly motivated and being aggressive and as much as aggression is an integral part of the game, under a volatile atmosphere, instrumental aggression can easily be seen as hostile aggression.

We have seen in the past, when there was bad blood between the coaches, it easily gets spilled over to the players, one such scenario happened in 2011, in a match between Real Madrid and Barcelona.

This was when there was fierce rivalry between Jose Mourinho and Pep Guardiola.

Before this match, they were having verbal altercations over the media, and came match day, 9 yellow cards and 3 red cards were issued by the referee.

One hopes that the acrimonious relationship that exists between the coaches doesn't affect the beautiful game, which we know very well that both teams are able to dish out.

In this encounter, it is going to be interesting to see how things unfold, not only on the pitch but also on both benches.

Recently, both coaches have been eerily quiet, and it would be easy for one to conclude that maybe they have buried the hatchet but what if it's the calm before the storm?

"The calm before the storm is like the quiet before the thunder, it's a warning that something powerful is about to happen." - Unknown