Piqué was full of praise for Guardiola: “He has no rival”

Pep Guardiola and Manchester City are the topic of the year in the United Kingdom. Not only because of the end of the Catalan’s contract at the Etihad (there is talk of a decision regarding this that will arrive before Boxing Day), but also because of the judgment that the entity maintains with the Premier League in order to know if for almost For 11 years there have been irregularities in the United Arab Emirates’ management of the English club. As he fights to end a streak of four consecutive defeats on the islands, Gerard Piqué is full of praise for his former coach.

It all came thanks to a talk with Corriere dello Sport where the former Barcelona defender showed all his admiration for Guardiola. He spoke of Pep as ahead of his time, as an innate strategist and even as a coach capable of motivating his warriors like few others: “On a tactical and strategic level he is a genius, he knows how to read the game, predict how it will end, he gives you all the necessary tools to be able to counterattack or defend. And then in the transmission of the motivating message it is unrivaled and manages to keep the group’s attention high and constant even for several years.”

There were four seasons where that team amazed the planet. From 2008 to 2012 Barcelona won three editions of LaLigaa couple of UEFA Champions League and all of this with a more than striking style where possession of the ball and intensity in the game were pillars to win each trophy lifted. Guardiola acknowledged that he left due to wear and tear with a squad full of figures and where egos were increasingly difficult to manage.

“We had incredible amounts of talent…Messi, Xavi, Iniesta, Puyol, Busquets were there, we were from the house, children of La Masia. “We had always known each other, the understanding was natural, it was easy to follow Pep’s model… It was very complicated in a locker room of such quality and that had won so much, to guarantee the same level of performance, the language even changed,” more reflections from Piqué who, in times where there is so much talk about Guardiola’s future, remembers him as the great architect of what for many was the best team of all time. Twelve seasons later, everything is still alive in the memory of that Dream Team.

As we say, those four years had high points in every section of the game. 247 games, 179 wins, 47 draws, 21 losses, more than 600 goals and just 181 against They left a total of 78% success in terms of points achieved. Piqué surrenders to a Guardiola who, like in the winter of 2011, he is now facing the final months of his contract with the city of Manchester.

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Former teammate of Cristiano Ronaldo regrets his second cycle with Manchester United: “It was everyone’s mistake”

Piqué compared Messi and CR7

We are talking about a player who was a teammate of both of them. Many years with Leo, a couple with Cristiano Ronaldo at Manchester United and all this to know better than the vast majority the true ceiling of both figures. Piqué does not hesitate Corriere dello Sport on the Messi-CR7 rivalry : “Cristiano is the best of humans…Leo has always been different from others, he is an alien, he does not belong on this planet . I saw him train every day doing incredible things, there will never be someone with his speed of thinking and the same determination again. “He arrived when he was 13 years old, he played absolutely the same both in the Barça youth academy and in the first team.”

Piqué’s numbers in Barcelona

The former defender was one of Guardiola’s first signings in the summer of 2008. The rest is living history of a Barcelona where Piqué signed 616 games, 52 goals, 22 local titles (LaLiga, Copa del Rey and Spanish Super Cup), as well as a total of 9 international trophies, including the 2009, 2011 and 2015 Champions League. In the winter of 2022 and after only 6 games with Xavi, Gerard said goodbye in a victory against Almería at the Camp Nou.