After Manchester City’s Champions League victory, analysts in England agree: Pep Guardiola is the greatest coach of all time. Although he did not even need the victory over Internazionale, according to Rio Ferdinand.
Salient hymn of praise Ferdinand for City: “Guardiola is the greatest”
Guardiola completed the treble for the second time in his career on Saturday night. In 2009, the Spanish tactician immediately set the bar very high in his first season as head coach by winning the national title, the Spanish Cup and the Champions League with Barcelona. Two years later, a Champions League was added, but since then the most important European cup has always been out of reach.
Twelve years after his last CL win, Guardiola broke that curse by dealing with Inter in a difficult final. He received superlatives from the English press and Rio Ferdinand was also full of praise. The former top defender, who played under Sir Alex Ferguson at Manchester United, thinks Guardiola is one of the best managers of all time, if not the best. He said, “And he didn’t even need this one for that.”
Rio Ferdinand won the Champions League with Manchester United in 2008 and lost to Guardiola’s Barcelona in the Champions League final a year later. This was United’s position in that final battle.
“His teams are like paintings”
“I think we can all agree on that,” Ferdinand continued at BT Sport. “Because of the way he sees the game. His teams are like paintings, I’ve never seen anything like it myself. You can compare him to Michaelangelo or whoever you want. His teams play in a way that is admired all over the world. This has been a project and a process of years, the football they play is otherworldly.”
And so Ferdinand feels it is more than deserved that City have matched the performance of his beloved United in 1999. “This team will go down in history, they deserve this. It is a fantastic team that has gone deep when it was necessary. That’s the difference between this City and the one from the past. They can play fairytale football, but can also roll up their sleeves if necessary. Balance is everything in this team,” he concluded.
Brandon Williams made it clear on Instagram that he is not impressed by Rio Ferdinand’s praise of rivals Manchester City
The hymn to City will not be appreciated by Ferdinand in the red area of Manchester, according to some Instagram posts by United defender Brandon Williams. Former international Jonathan Woodgate, however, agrees wholeheartedly with his contemporary. “This is confirmation that Guardiola is the greatest of all,” Woodgate told the BBC. “He has changed the way we look at football, he is an innovator.”
According to Woodgate, Guardiola immortalized himself by leading City to the first Champions League in club history, something endorsed by Joleon Lescott. The former Citizens player called the success at BT Sport iconic. “This feels different from all other successes, this is very special.” Ferdinand came up with an apt comparison: after all these years, City have finally climbed football’s Mount Everest.
