PEP’S A BEAUTY ..BUT DON’T CALL JOSE THE BEAST
Lineker on the big rivals: ‘Guardiola is a genius and is improving English players, but Mourinho offers a different style and that has been so successful’
Watch every game from the UEFA Champions League and Europa League exclusively live at BT Sport, online and via the BT Sport app. Visit www.bt.com/sport PEP GUARDIOLA and Jose Mourinho’s artistic merits are as different as Leonardo Da Vinci and Pablo Picasso’s paintings.
And as the Manchester rivals lead English football’s armada into Europe this week, Gary Lineker warned it would be unfair to cast Pep’s genius as the beauty and Mourinho’s tactical prudence as the beast.
The former England captain rates City as favourites for the Champions League, along with Paris Saintgermain, their kindred spirits in fantasy football and inexhaustible petrodollar wealth.
But Lineker (above) is refusing to write off United, who have spent £627million in the transfer market since Sir Alex Ferguson retired four years ago and remain in contention for all four major prizes.
A big week culminates in the derby at Old
Trafford on Sunday, the first collision of
Guardiola’s virtuosity with Mourinho’s proficiency this season.
Despite branding United’s performances in their Champions League qualifying group as “bogstandard,” Lineker – anchorman for BT Sport’s live coverage of European football – insists it takes different styles to make the best rivalries.
He said: “Pep’s a genius – I don’t think there is any question of that in terms of improving players’ performances, his style, his philosophy.
“There were a few doubters last season, people saying you can’t bring it out from the back in English football and all that nonsense. He is already proving that you can.
“City struggled last season because they didn’t find a keeper who really settled in. Claudio Bravo had a tough time but Ederson looks a really good fit and is even improving our English players – Stones, Sterling and Walker.
“You have to be a little bit careful of being overcritical of Mourinho’s style, as he has been so successful.
“It is lovely watching free-flowing, forward-thinking football, just trying to outscore the opposition. But you want different styles.
“If flamboyant football proves triumphant over a period of time, that has got to be a good thing for the game – but you’ve got to be wary of saying Pep’s the beauty and Jose’s the beast. That would be a bit cruel, unkind and unfair.
“Ultimately, it is all about players. City have got De Bruyne, Silva, Sterling and Sane, who are all on top of their game. At United, Martial can do it, but only on occasions, while Rashford is still feeling his way.
“But at Barcelona, Pep pushed the game on from what Johan Cruyff did and he has now taken that, evolved it, and moved it on even more.
“Tiki-taka was basically just pass-and-move, which we have seen before, but with a different system, and a bit less cautious.
“It has kind of taken the game back to the early days, and that’s why we are seeing so many goals now with full-backs bombing on.”
Lineker reckons United will win their group and the prospect of Mourinho facing his old club Real Madrid would be truly mouthwatering.
He added: “Whoever United draw will give us something to talk about, but it’s Jose’s team now. They are very well organised, hard to score against, they wear teams down and have an unbelievably good home record.
“They are probably just a little bit of star quality short of being Champions League winners just yet but, after Christmas, it’s a knockout competition, and Chelsea won it in 2012 without really playing that well, so you never know.
“They have not been exhilarating in Europe – a bit bog-standard – but they will win the group.
“What Jose will do generally is to keep his back four together. He doesn’t like his full-backs bombing forward like City.
“I wouldn’t describe him as a negative coach. I would actually call him a sensible coach – he knows he’s going to get results and he knows how to get lots of points in a season.
“The title might be beyond them, but that’s more about the magnificence of City. They are not playing badly, but City are still unbeaten.”