‘It’s madness’, says Guardiola on reaching 1,000 games as a manager | OneFootball

Spanish coach Pep Guardiola described this Friday (7th) as "crazy" the numbers of his career, two days before reaching 1,000 games as a coach, with his team, Manchester City, facing Liverpool in the English Championship.

"The numbers are crazy... I don't spend my time thinking about how many, but when you reach this milestone, you look back and see what you've achieved... the victories, the level, not only in the Premier League, also in the Champions League, we did incredible things at Barcelona," recalled Guardiola in a press conference.

The 54-year-old coach won 715 of the 999 games he managed, since his debut with Barcelona's B team in 2007.

Guardiola said he is happy to reach 1,000 games in his career precisely against Liverpool, City's main rival in England.

"Liverpool, especially with Jürgen Klopp [former 'Reds' coach] was the biggest rival in this country. There couldn't be a better one," he admitted.

When asked about the opinion of some analysts who consider him the best coach of all time, Guardiola responded humorously: "They are absolutely right."

"I try to make my teams play the way I understand the game, I never betrayed my convictions," he added in a more serious tone.

After debuting as a coach 18 years ago, Guardiola took over Barcelona's main team in 2008. Since then, he has won 38 titles, among Barça (2008-2012), Bayern Munich (2013-2016), and Manchester City (since 2016).

In 2023, he achieved the historic treble with the 'Citizens', winning the English Championship, the FA Cup, and the Champions League.

Before facing Liverpool in the 11th round of the Premier League, Manchester City is the runner-up, six points behind Arsenal (1st).

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇧🇷 here.