TheCable

Toni Alvarez, a La Liga coach instructor, says it will be “difficult” for Pep Guardiola to repeat his Barcelona days achievements in Manchester City.

Alvarez, a Uefa pro-license coach, believes it will be a tall order for any manager to put together a team like the Barcelona side that Guardiola tutored to multiple success.

“I don’t think he can reach that level of excellence because like I said before that Barcelona generation he worked with was unique,” Alvarez told TheCable.

“The generation of players Pep Guardiola coached in Barcelona is a unique set.

“It will be difficult to see such generation in many years to come.”

The coach, however, praised Guardiola’s ability to “adapt” to different football leagues.

“You see Guardiola has not just the capability to understand football but also to adapt himself to the different leagues, be it the Spanish, Bundesliga or English leagues,” he said.

Alvarez said Argentine star Lionel Messi made the difference for Guardiola while he was in Barcelona.

“You know the important part for him was having Messi as a player on his team,” he said.

“But what he is doing now with the Man City team is fantastic. He is changing the mentality of the English League and this is very good.”

Speaking on Real Madrid’s poor run of late, Alvarez said, “well, you know that the dressing room is like a steam room. After three months, dressing room like Real Madrid with big stars is complicated to manage.

“I think the won everything, motivation could be the key.

“Sometimes, this is highly important in high-performance football and everybody wants to beat Real Madrid.

“Though, it is difficult to say what kind of motivation the team need from the outside but they are also humans. It does happen in football.”