Guardiola’s influence during his managerial spell in Germany reached far beyond Bayern Munich.
Bastian Schweinsteiger believes Pep Guardiola’s spell at Bayern Munich has contributed to Germany’s struggle in international tournaments.
Having made an incredible start to his coaching career at Barcelona, Guardiola left the club in 2012 to prove himself elsewhere. Bayern Munich were quick in securing the Spaniard’s services, hiring him as the successor to Jupp Heynckes.
Schweinsteiger was a key player in the squad that had won the treble a year earlier. However, he was one of the few players that left the club shortly after Guardiola’s arrival.
In an interview with talkSPORT, the former midfielder said: “Well it’s a situation that’s very tricky for the German national team and football in general.
“I think there has been a lot of change. You know when Pep Guardiola joined Bayern Munich when he came to the country, everyone believed we had to play this kind of football, like short passes and everything.
“We were kind of losing our values you know. I think most of the other countries were looking at Germany as a fighter and we can run until the end and everything.”
A year after Guardiola’s arrival, Germany won the World Cup in Brazil. Since then, however, Die Mannschaft has suffered a steady decline, with their latest setback being a group-stage elimination in the Qatar World Cup.
Schweinsteiger added: “The strengths, through the last seven, eight years, we forgot about that.
“We were more focused on playing the ball nicely to each other and that’s one of the reasons.”
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