ANDl Manchester City receive the Real Madrid on august 7 with wolf aspect, more if possible after the 1-2 one way, but Guardiola prefers to put on lambskin and took advantage of an interview with DAZN to dedicate the elderly praise to the white team and to Zidane, both as a player and in his current work as technical. “As a player it was, wow! What I would have liked to play with him! I had the misfortune to play against him with the French team. It does football very well in good times and bad, and I'm glad. Although people do not believe me, because he is from Real Madrid, I am very pleased what things go well, it is very good for football. If you have done what you have done, winning three Champions in a row, taking away two Leagues from Barça … That show your ability“said Santpedor's about his colleague by profession.
He City know you have a winning hand on the round of 16 of the Champions League: to overcome, the Madrid he has to score two goals and zero the most productive team in the Premier, 102 goals (17 more than Liverpool champion); if Pep's score, Madrid you will need hat trick, many for a team that averages less than two goals bereaved this course (98 in 50 games, 1.96 per game). Still, Guardiola knows well that the comebacks are part of the White DNA: “We have a good result from the first leg, but if we play with that, we will have many difficulties. try to get to 95 ' saying that it was us, with the good and the bad. We should not think too much about our advantage. If a team can turn it around it's a big like Madrid, as well as Barcelona or Bayern. They know these competitions and they know how to play them. It is a very strong team and it has helped me to be a better coach. “
Pep-Zizou tuning
The attunement between Guardiola and Zidane is not new. As players, their match on the field was poor. In clubs, only they saw each other during a 2002 Rome-Madrid (0-3), in which Guardiola left from the bench in 46 'and Zidane retired in 70', barely 25 minutes in common. The appointment that Guardiola remembers are the quarterfinals of the Euro 2000, in which France alighted Spain 2-1, with a goal from Marseille; months later, in 2001, they would meet in a friendly match in Mestalla that La Roja won.
But the best words have always been dedicated. When Zidane was still polishing his coach license, he visited Guardiola in Munich for practice. It was in March 2015, when he was already a Castilla coach. “We were inspired by what he did. I spent a few days with him, talking about training and how he manages a team and he was very sincere. I like how it works, it inspires me. He gave me a lot of advice, they were very interesting talks, “Zidane recalled of that experience.
Mutual praise
Already this course, after knowing that the eighth rival Madrid would be City, the white coach was sincere: “He is the best coach in the world”; Guardiola, from Manchester, corresponded to compliments: “Zidane is one of the best. SI heard when I was a player with play with it but it never happened. My impression is that he is an incredible person, I admire him. “And before the first leg at the Bernabéu, Zidane remarked his choice:” He has always shown himself to be the best. At Barça, at Bayern, now at City … It is my opinion, others think that others are the best. But for me it's him“