Pep Guardiola has Manchester City leading the Premier League table and is practically qualified for the quarter-finals of the Champions League. The coach continues to increase his numbers from the bench at the Etihad Stadium and today, Wednesday, he gave an exclusive interview on Spotify for the first play, where he analyzes the Argentine national team, Lionel Messi, Julián Álvarez, Marcelo Gallardo, among other topics, published daily ACE from Spain.
About the Argentine team
“Winning the Copa América will help them in the World Cup in Qatar. I have the feeling that it is a team that has not lost for a long time and that gives strength. Also the fact of having Messi helps, that you know that he only wins you. Or he doesn’t win it but he has that ability to generate two or three actions out of nowhere that end in a goal or leaves only the teammates ahead of him, like Di María, Lautaro, Julián Álvarez… All those people he has for forward to create play, that generates strength”.
Lionel Scalloni
“Football experience is a big lie. I have told my players when I was at Barcelona, at Bayern Munich and now here. In the 2005 Champions League final, the result was 3-0 at half-time in favor of Milan against Liverpool. The Italian team had an experienced team with a thousand battles under their belts, with players like Cafu, Maldini, Dida, Nesta, Gattuso, Pirlo, Crespo, Inzaghi… and they lost in 20 minutes. The illusion of young people like Scaloni and Aimar who are also there gave him what the group needed and it worked. This cannot be analyzed because it is a mystery.”
Argentina, World Cup candidate
“If it is. He has already broken the barrier with the conquest of the Copa América. Everything will depend on how they get to the World Cup.”
Messi
“Hopefully I get to the World Cup well, that I train well the months before. I don’t talk to him after the Copa América. It’s not easy being Messi and it was a liberation for him to win the championship. For me, Messi is everything in my career and he made me more competitive. There were many stars with a perfect age and veterans with a high level, very good chemistry was generated among all of them and that happens once in a lifetime. Xavi, Iniesta, Puyol… Without him we would have won but not that much. I compare Messi with Michael Jordan when Phil Jackson could feel what it was like to have the best and he won six rings, I also won because he made it easy. I still owe him a bottle of wine because he made me win better contracts.”
On the maturity of Messi
“You get older and the energy you had ten years ago is not the same now. He has changed and has adapted to his times, it is logical. He wanted to take on the world when we met and now, at 35 years old, he already knows what he has to do”.
He did not miss the opportunity to praise the work of Marcelo Gallardo in River Plate
“I like his way of playing on diamond, with two points, and I don’t play like that… You can win one day and two, but being in a competitive league like the Copa Libertadores… he’s always there for so long, competing. I don’t know him, I haven’t gone to the Monumental to watch a game to have a deep analysis, but the fact of being there for so long is because there is something. If you scratch there, something is there. If not, it can’t be.”
His next star, Julián Álvarez, will play for Manchester City next season
“If we hire him, it is to have him with us. There is a fundamental question: we believe that he is a player for us because he has a lot of potential. He moves well and smells the goal and the goal is worth money, a lot. He cost money, but not crazy like he is paid in Europe. It is an opportunity for the future and next year he will be with us in the preseason. I want to see him on the grass with his teammates. If we are not convinced we would not have signed it. If he is, it is because we believe in him. The reports we have of him are exceptional and he has that feeling that he is hard to find.”
Marcelo Bielsa and the relationship with Guardiola
“I don’t know if he left a legacy. Surely he left a legacy in his players, without having been there I put both hands on fire. Every player who has been with him can say that there is a before and after in their careers and in their personal lives. There are things that Marcelo does that I am incapable of doing. I love and admire his press conferences, his analysis after games and he always puts his prestige to trample on. I am not interested in the winners and those who judge by titles. Mascherano, Milito, Batistuta and some Leeds player that I have met, I love those who speak well of him. They say he hasn’t won much… Give him Barcelona, my Barcelona to see if he didn’t win… I don’t think he could have been promoted with his Leeds”.
The kun Agüero, top foreign scorer in the Premier League
“Sergio gives the feeling of pachorra, but then he is very smart. He grabs your concepts. What he has done in England is second to none. In this club there is a before and after him. Statues can be made. In addition, he scored the best goal for the club that was, is and will be in history at the last minute. I’m not a big fan of statistics, but of the scorers yes. They say ‘such a player has made millions of passes’, but what about the good or bad passes, did they go over the lines or not? Instead, the goal, no. You put it or you don’t. He was injured for a long time because of his muscles and I understand that because of the way we played it was not easy for him because his natural tendency was not to press, he has not been educated like that. But I admire him a lot because I know he gave his best. People here are aware of what he has done. His time in English football is important because he is the greatest Argentine in this country, by far (by far)”.
Manage the Argentine national team
“They never tried me to play for River nor did they call me to lead the National Team. An Argentine has to lead Argentina. Not one from Sampedor (Catalonia). We have very similar customs. We speak the same language, we like similar things, we love life, food, being with friends and loved ones, I have trained several Argentine players and I have friends who live there”.
“When I started I never thought I would play or train in Barcelona. What has to happen will happen. When I have to leave Manchester City, I’m going to leave. And I’ll go home and take some time. I no longer need to train or maybe yes. If I needed to go to Argentina to train… I don’t know, to Boca for example, so that those from Boca don’t get angry because they told me that I praised River and they were angry. I do not know. We’ll see…”, thus ended the interview with The first play. (D)
Source: Eluniverso
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