MY SUCCESS IS DOWN TO JOHANN CRUYFF - GUARDIOLA

Manchester City manager, Pep Guardiola, has
said his success as a manager, is down to the
things he learnt from the late Johan Cruyff at
Barcelona.
The Spaniard is widely acknowledged as one of
the best coaches in world football and has won
21 trophies during his time at Barca and Bayern
Munich.
Guardiola, who was almost sold by the Catalan
club until Cruyff intervened, says the education
he received under the Dutchman who died in
March this year, laid the foundations for his
career path.
Speaking at the London launch of the
autobiography ‘Johan Cruyff: My Turn’, he said: “I
was a lucky guy, I coached City, Bayern and
Barca because I met him.
“I thought I knew about football but when I met
him, a whole new world opened in front of me.
“He taught us – not only me, but a generation of
players – to understand the game, to understand
why you took that decision.
“Football is the most complicated game, it’s very
open and you have to take a lot of decisions. His
impact on people was enormous.
“He wasn’t sitting during training sessions, he
was playing with us, but better than us. He
would not tell us how to do things, he would do
them. Every single training session was a
masterclass.
“He had knowledge, charisma, personality.
Everyone knows about football, everyone, but
there’s not many people that you will follow if he
tells you to. You followed him.
“He was the most courageous manager I ever
met. He believed in the ‘efecto
mariposa’ (butterfly effect), that a good pass at
the beginning could create a wonderful thing at
the end.”





Sourced and edited by DANIEL IKECHUKWU EKWUNIFE