The old glory of Barcelona that weighed Mourinho and belittled Guardiola: “When he caught Barça the team was cooked”

Few will remember, but Hristo Stoichkov, José Mourinho and Josep Guardiola they lived together in Barcelona for two years. The Bulgarian, being one of the oldest footballers on the team, Mou being technical assistant to Bobby Robson in one season and Louis van Gaal in another, and Pep Molding itself in the professional establishment like one of the figures.

About those times (mid-90s), Stoichkov shared some experiences lived with Mourinho and Guardiola, in dialogue with Planet 947.

“I had the opportunity to work with José when he was very young, he is two years younger than me, in a locker room as big as Barcelona’s. He was a pretty smart boy, he looked at a lot of things, training, warming up, hitting the ball. He always had a piece of paper and a pen in his hand and wrote“He related.

And he remembered an anecdote: “One day in training he told me that he wanted to talk to me. He told me that he had detected something, that he was going to tell me because he was a veteran and had experience. It was that he was not focused on training, that there were two balls and to try not to do it again because that would be reflected in the youth. “You cannot lose two balls, at most you can lose one,” he said.

For his part, Guardiola recalled: “He was very young in that Dream team and he played in a position invented by the coach, Johan Cruyff, a complicated position in modern football. To move the ball with players who could get out of the defense. All the balls passed by Pep, there you began to have possession and movements to open spaces. When you play in that position you always have to be very focused ”.

Hristo, who now resides in Miami and works as a soccer analyst for a television network, said that he forged a great friendship with Mourinho not only during his stay in Barcelona but also when he led Chelsea and visited a Bulgarian team in a edition of the Champions League, where he arranged an interview for a documentary. “José is one of the most loyal guys with his friends. And the enemies, no water “, expressed the Bulgarian.

However, the former left-handed attacker who won 15 titles with Barcelona (including the Champions 91/92) was not as complimentary with Guardiola. In fact, he appreciated the work done by his predecessor as team coach, Frank Rijkaard: “His work was easy because he knew perfectly well the infrastructure of the youth (he came from Barça C and Barça B). Barcelona was already cooked. Rijkaard made the group, Messi and other players debuted with him. Spectacular things were done with him, the team was already done. With Henry, Deco, Ronaldinho, Ibrahimovic, Rafa Márquez, Puyol, Víctor Valdés, there were few things to move. After Iniesta, Pedro came in, there was more playing time for Lionel and the team was complete ”.

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