Pep Guardiola has been up to his usual tricks ahead of the Champions League final between Inter and Manchester City in Istanbul on June 10, heaping the praise on Simone Inzaghi and his team as he has done so many times in the past.
Speaking before City’s Premier League encounter with Roberto De Zerbi’s Brighton, Guardiola was asked about the challenges that Inter would present in the Champions League, prompting plaudits from the former Barcelona and Bayern Munich coach.
“I started watching a few minutes of Inter, some game situations, and they impressed me with what they do, with their body language,” Guardiola told the English press. “I spoke to some friends who live in Italy to ask their opinion. They all told me to stay alert because these guys are serious.”
This is far from the first time Guardiola has praised an opposition coach so emphatically, in fact, earlier in the same press conference, the City boss labelled De Zerbi as “one of the most influential coaches of the last 20 years,” before playing out a 1-1 draw on the English south coast on Wednesday night.
The list is almost endless. Guardiola has previously described watching Maurizio Sarri’s teams as “a spectacle.” He also said that playing against Gian Piero Gasperini and Atalanta is like a trip to the dentist, “because you always suffer,” and speaking about Pescara’s Zdenek Zeman, Guardiola described his coaching as “unique.”
Many, particularly Napoli’s Luciano Spalletti, believe that Guardiola’s comments are part of his pre-match mind games, hoping that the opposition coaches will crumble under the pressure of being praised so heavily by one of the finest footballing minds of this generation.
Spalletti, responding to Guardiola’s claim that Napoli were the best team in Europe earlier in the season, said: “It’s a little game that he plays, putting pressure on others. Everyone knows it. Would you really put Napoli ahead of City? They spend 900 million, we spent about nine.”
Frustrated that his usual trick didn’t seem to be working with Spalletti, Guardiola bit back, telling the press: “I don’t want to talk about Napoli, otherwise their coach will get angry with me. He is so sensitive and grumpy.”