Jack87 news today, asianbookie Manchester City’s Pep Guardiola is one of the best two or three managers of all time and former Barcelona team-mate Carles Puyol said ahead of Saturday’s Champions League final that Guardiola will win the trophy for a third time.
Puyol played alongside Pep Guardiola at Barcelona and captained his side a few years later, winning the Champions League in 2008-09 and 2010-11.
“I’ve been (playing) with Pep for two years and, honestly, you can already see these leadership qualities in him in every way,” Puyol told Lawrence Sportsmanship.
“The way he talks, his commitment to the club, you can already see him as a manager.
“For me, if not the best, he’s certainly one of the two or three best coaches of all time.”
Puyol, who spent 15 years at Barcelona, winning six La Liga titles and three Champions League titles, said Guardiola was already a tactical master, even as a player under Dutch coach Louis van Gaal.
“Even with a coach like Van Gaal, who I like very much, Pep would even move us sometimes, as a defender. He would make us three at the back, sometimes four at the back,” Puyol said.
“I vividly remember a game against Atletico Madrid where I was blown away by how he played and how he could imagine the best way to defend.”
Guardiola has transformed City into a dominant force in English football 1xbet since arriving in 2016.
He has won five of the last six Premier League titles, with City beating Manchester United in the FA Cup final on Saturday for a domestic double – his 11th trophy for the club.
City face Inter Milan in Istanbul on Saturday with the chance to emulate United’s 1999 treble-winning finish.
Puyol said that while City had the same attacking options as Pep Guardiola’s Barcelona side, they also had the same defensive discipline.
“Having an attack like this, you have to be very aware as a defender and he was always very eager in that regard,” Puyol said.
“A lot of people really focus on how Pep’s teams play, but I think the difference is in the way they defend, how they react when they lose the ball.”
Puyol, whose career spanned nearly 600 official games, is considered one of the best defenders of his generation, but admits he has feelings for Erling Haaland’s Inter defender who was accused of stopping 52 goals on Saturday. Some sympathy.
“I think he’s a really complete player that will define an era. He’s a real predator in the box, I love him, he’s so big, it’s really hard to mark him, you have to analyze well and act as a player. A team comes to work,” Puyol said.
