Bruno Fernandes rates Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola as the ‘best coach in the world’ and has also praised another one of Manchester United’s fiercest rivals – Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp.
Guardiola won three La Liga titles and two Champions Leagues with one of the greatest teams in history at Barcelona and his managerial success continued at his previous club Bayern Munich.
The 53-year-old led Bayern to three successive Bundesliga titles before leaving Germany in 2016 and producing another all-time great side at Manchester City, where he has won five league titles and the Champions League as well as six domestic cups.
Guardiola’s Man City side secured a coveted and historic treble last season and could match that remarkable effort this term as winning the Premier League, Champions League and FA Cup remains a genuine possibility.
‘We are talking about the best coach in the world, without a shadow of a doubt,’ Manchester United midfielder Fernandes told A Bola. ‘In recent years, he has been the best coach in the world.
‘He is probably the coach who most changed the game of football. Nowadays, everyone wants to be Guardiola, there’s no need to hide that.
‘All teams, from the second to the first divisions, everyone tries to play like City and everyone tries to find the dynamics that City has, because they have results and success.
‘For me, having praise from a coach like Guardiola is something spectacular, because, as I said, we are talking about a coach that I really appreciate and who, for me, today, is the best coach in the world.'
Fernandes also spoke highly of another Manchester United rival – Liverpool’s departing manager Klopp.
Since arriving at Anfield in 2015, Klopp has guided Liverpool to Premier League and Champions League glory. The Reds could yet win a treble of their own this season in Klopp’s final year at the club.
‘We are talking about a coach who is one of the ones I most appreciate, for the intensity he brings to games and the passion he has for football,’ Fernandes said of Klopp.
‘I think what he did now is yet another demonstration of how much he loves football.
‘He feels that, if he is not at his best, he is not giving his best to the game. And I think a little like that too, in the same way as him, probably.
‘He is a coach who changed the dynamics of Liverpool, who brought hope to the club. If we look at it, Klopp is the coach who has probably won the fewest titles and, even so, achieved the most in terms of the passion of the world of football, the passion of the fans, the transformation he brought to a club.
‘He won big titles, he won the Premier League, the Champions League, and some cups, but the biggest prize he will take away from these years will be the flame, the passion and the new dynamics he brought and which made Liverpool once again believe in being [a] champion, in being able to fight for titles, in being among the best.
'That’s something that no one will ever take away from Klopp. We are talking about another coach who really influences my passion for football.'
One trophy Klopp will not be winning this season is the FA Cup after his Liverpool side experienced a painful 4-3 loss to Manchester United in a thrilling quarter-final at Old Trafford.
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