Manchester City manager, Pep Guardiola, has said his success as a manager, is down to the things he learnt from the late Johan Cruyff at Barcelona.
The Spaniard is widely acknowledged as one of the best coaches in world football and has won 21 trophies during his time at Barca and Bayern Munich.
Guardiola, who was almost sold by the Catalan club until Cruyff intervened, says the education he received under the Dutchman who died in March this year, laid the foundations for his career path.
Speaking at the London launch of the autobiography ‘Johan Cruyff: My Turn’, he said: “I was a lucky guy, I coached City, Bayern and Barca because I met him.
“I thought I knew about football but when I met him, a whole new world opened in front of me.
“He taught us – not only me, but a generation of players – to understand the game, to understand why you took that decision.
“Football is the most complicated game, it’s very open and you have to take a lot of decisions. His impact on people was enormous.
“He wasn’t sitting during training sessions, he was playing with us, but better than us. He would not tell us how to do things, he would do them. Every single training session was a masterclass.
“He had knowledge, charisma, personality. Everyone knows about football, everyone, but there’s not many people that you will follow if he tells you to. You followed him.
“He was the most courageous manager I ever met. He believed in the ‘efecto mariposa’ (butterfly effect), that a good pass at the beginning could create a wonderful thing at the end.”
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