Is Messi here? Guardiola asked after arriving at Manchester City. Nasri described the Spanish coach’s methods

Pep Guardiola has been in charge of the Manchester City bench since the summer of 2016. He was used to coaching the best players on the Old Continent from Barcelona and Bayern Munich. But at the new ruler of English league turf, he had to earn their respect.

At club level, he had garnered success with both Catalan Barcelona and Bayern Munich, a new challenge the two-time Champions League winner chose in the blue of Manchester. Aligning star players at the new giant of English football has not been straightforward.

But the Santpedora native handled it with bravado. ” When Pep came to the club, he made some changes to the squad and some players were not happy about it.”

Of course, no footballer is happy about a negative change, so the debate between the coach and the players about the changes in the various positions became heated. Guardiola, however, shut down the debate pretty quickly.

“Is Messi here? ” asked the then new Citizens manager. The players present replied that of course he was not.

“You see. So nobody has the right to speak because Messi is the only player I would never put on the bench,” Nasri paraphrased the Spanish coach. Guardiola quickly brought order to the cabin.

This situation proves that Guardiola has altered the team of individual stars that Manchester City was in the early years of its rise. He was able to get the most out of individual players for team success. Even the biggest stars from the Etihad Stadium – De Bruyne, Sterling, Foden or Mahrez – are not guaranteed to be in the starting eleven every game.

Source: Canal+, Twitter, Transfermarkt