GUARDIOLA’S PRAISE FOR NEW TOFFEES BOSS City special
WHEN Pep Guardiola and Carlo Ancelotti renew acquaintances on the Etihad touchline it will be the latest chapter in a relationship going back more than 20 years.
The pair first came across each other when Ancelotti tried to sign Guardiola as a player from Barcelona, when the Italian was in his second managerial job in Serie A with Parma.
That 1996 to 1998 side are fondly remembered now and Ancelotti wanted Guardiola to run the midfield for him, with the Catalan always tempted by a move abroad and broadening his footballing horizons.
Guardiola discussed a move with Ancelotti at the time but it was Barcelona’s decision to appoint Louis van Gaal as manager that convinced him to remain with his boyhood club, before an eventual move to Italy with Brescia towards the end of his career.
Even now the City boss would have liked to have had the experience of working under Ancelotti, who brings his Everton side to City this afternoon, although he was happy with his decision to remain at the Nou Camp.
“It’s maybe one of my regrets, we were close to Parma and that team had [Lilian] Thuram, [Gianluigi] Buffon,” he said.
“I was a young player 26 or 27 at Barcelona and I was always curious to go abroad and play in other countries. We were in touch, a little bit with Carlo and a bit with the sporting director.
“At the end Van Gaal came to Barcelona, I was excited to train with him and learn his methodology because Van Gaal was in that moment and had been one of the greatest managers of all time. He came to Barcelona with his Ajax philosophy and I wanted to learn from him. I always had this regret that I didn’t train with Carlo because I would have loved it.
“I went to Italy years later with Brescia and that was one of the most exciting and happiest periods of my life because of the way they took care of me during the incredibly tough moments. One of the happiest times of my life.
“I was so happy at Barca with Van Gaal but at the same time I’d have loved to train with someone like Carlo.”
Ancelotti has had a good start to life at Goodison Park, winning his first two games in charge ahead of today’s trip to the Etihad. Guardiola is an admirer of the Italian’s approach and the way he sets his team up and insists the 60-year-old will go down as one of the greatest managers ever. “I like the way he conducts his teams, the way his players talk about him. I was never in the locker room but always he knows exactly what he has to do to get the best out of his players,” the City boss said. “He’s one of the greatest for sure, at the end of his career everyone will talk about him as one of the greatest managers of all time.”
I like the way he conducts his teams, the way his players talk about him
Pep Guardiola on Carlo Ancelotti