Ahead of this weekend’s Premier League challenge for Manchester City, Guardiola revealed the manager he admires the most.
Pep Guardiola has been widely considered one of the most important football managers in recent times, but even he has his own idols. We can talk about Johan Cruyff’s influence on Pep all we want but the Catalan coach has more people he admires. Perhaps the one for whom he geeks out over the most is Marcelo Bielsa.
The mythical Argentine manager who accomplished one of the biggest challenges in recent English football history. ‘El Loco’ took Leeds United out of obscurity and back into the light by bringing them back to the Premier League. It’s been 16 years since this football club played at the highest level. Only a mad man like Bielsa was able to do it.
Guardiola is beaming with excitement for the possibility of playing against Bielsa again. Both managers already met in different occasions when they were both coaching the Spanish La Liga. In fact, Bielsa famously lost a Copa del Rey final against that legendary FC Barcelona squad. During that era, ‘El Loco’ was Athletic Bilbao’s manager and he even took them to the Europa League final once.
Guardiola’s reason to admire Bielsa.
More than his results as a professional manager, Guardiola admires Bielsa’s football philosophy.
“Bielsa is the person I admire the most in the football world,” said Pep ahead of this weekend’s match via Sport. “As a manager and a human being. I think he is the most authentic manager due to the way he leads his teams, he is unique. Especially with his behavior that goes beyond the football pitch.
“I sincerely believe that managers can’t be judged by the titles they win. My teams have won more trophies than his. But as far as knowledge goes, I’m far from Marcelo’s squads. Having him here is a great gift for the Premier League.Every Bielsa team is a real team. They attack with a lot of people and they defend in the same way.
“Their ball possession os very good. The players are committed, the effort is always there. All the games I played against his Athletic Bilbao were really complicated. Compared to the rest of games in the league, playing against Bielsa es completely different.
Cruyff is still a bigger influence on Pep.
“Bielsa doesn’t have the same influence over me than Johan Cruyff, basically because I haven’t been working with him on a daily basis. Johan was key for me during my first days as a manager, he advised me and he helped in what I was lacking.”
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