Pep Guardiola, manager of Manchester City gave a curious piece of advice to his Real Madrid counterpart, Xabi Alonso, ahead of their clash with Los Blancos on Wednesday night at the Bernabeu. The former Barcelona man was peppered with questions about Alonso’s future more than anything else.
Alonso’s job reportedly on the line on Wednesdaywith a negative result which could cost the Basque manager his job. Guardiola was asked if he had any friendly advice for his former player.
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“Pee with his. Pee with his. He doesn’t pee with cologne so he’ll probably do fine, you’ll see. That’s your title, right?” referencing an old criticism of himself while managing Barcelona. Guardiola has sometimes been accused of “peeing cologne”, with similar connotations to “the sun shining from behind”.
Has Guardiola identified Real Madrid’s big problem?
One of the main frustrations of Alonso’s tenure seems to be that he has neither has gained enough influence in the locker room, nor has the power to impose his authority. It has been suggested that Real Madrid’s stars hold too much power.
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“I’m not in the Real Madrid dressing room, so I don’t know the situation. But it depends. The hierarchy, at the end of the day, is the power. If the hierarchy wants to give the power to the coach, the coach will have the power. If he wants to give it to the players, the players will have the power.
“These games are difficult but he knows it, he’s been here, he knows this reality. It’s about winning games. I know they have a lot of absences, I know what happens when you want to build something and a lot of players are injured. That happened to us last season. But of course he’s capable of doing it.”
Image via Violeta Santos Moura / Action Images via Reuters
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“When you don’t win, you know what happens” – Guardiola
Guardiola was keen to stress that he was encouraging Alonso to turn things around, and highlighted both the difficulty of the job and the key to his way out of a tense situation.
“Of course. We worked together for two and a half years and it was incredible; we shared so many things. But Barcelona and Real Madrid are the most difficult clubs to manage, because of the pressure and the environment. It’s been a difficult season and everything is about winning… and when you don’t win, you know what happens. That happened to me last season! But Xabi is capable of doing it.”
Alonso’s teams are not like Guardiola’s
Alonso arrived with the reputation of a tactician close to Guardiola, which deviates from the general perception of Zinedine Zidane or Carlo Ancelotti. The former Barcelona manager was asked if he saw any similarities between his own teams and Alonso’s.
Image via Denis Doyle/Getty Images
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“No, my teams are great. My teams cannot be compared to any other team. There is another title. Each team has its own.
The future of the Real Madrid coach was also the main topic at Alonso’s press conference. Alonso assured that he felt he had the support of the hierarchy and the unity of the dressing room, while Aurélien Tchouameni pointed the finger at the players for recent poor results.
