Leicester City boss Brendan Rodgers has paid tribute to Manchester City rival Pep Guardiola.
Rodgers is full of praise for the Manchester City manager ahead of their crunch showdown at the Etihad tomorrow night.
He said of the Catalan: “He’s a pioneer — a genius in terms of some of the innovations he has put in place. So, of course, 100% he can be put alongside the likes of Cruyff. Rinus Michels is another one.
“I’ve been a big follower of Cryuff and that model of work since I was a young coach. What ties them together is that they all understood football, the importance of technique, relationships, positions on the pitch.
“Of course, Cruyff played under Michels and Pep played in that Barcelona team of Cruyff’s and what he learned from that has given him an incredible base. He’s fed that into La Masia, into the academy, and that gave them the golden generation of Xavi, Iniesta and Pique.
“What he did at Bayern was great – maybe didn’t conquer Europe, but went close – and what he’s given to the game overall, from a coaching perspective, has been brilliant.
“He came into City and people said, ‘You won’t be able to play like that here’. It took him one season to have a look, then he got in some players to make it happen.
“Of course, it’s about the players. If you don’t have the players you want, then you’re going to have issues. But once the club was able to get him the players he wanted, you can see what’s happened in the past couple of seasons. He’s just a fantastic coach.”
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