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During a chat with a lot of Facebook fans for a Four Four Two exclusive, former Barcelona defender Eric Abidal talked about many topics. He spoke about his career, about his time in Barcelona and the French National team. But there was a moment in which a fan asked him to name the differences between managers Frank Rijkaard and Pep Guardiola, Abidal's response was everything but expected. The Frenchman dared to neglect Guardiola's success with the 2009 team and said that winning all six trophies came out of luck more than talent.
"Every coach has their plan and their tactical solutions. Rijkaard did very well at Barça – he won the Champions League and La Liga. People shouldn’t forget that just because two teams have won the Treble since then. Guardiola was different, of course. He was younger and had just finished playing. He gave Barça a different idea of football. He said, ‘play the ball, pass, pass, pass, touch, touch, touch, then in the last 30 yards, make a difference’. Guardiola worked hard, but he was a little bit lucky to win all the trophies in his first season. Sometimes you need a little bit of luck."
"Of course I saw him get angry. It’s the same with every coach. After his very first home game, against Racing Santander, he called a meeting in the dressing room. We’d already lost the first away game, at Numancia, and now we had drawn at Camp Nou. Guardiola said: ‘Look, guys, we worked hard in pre-season, but you have to believe in my plan if you want to win La Liga and the Champions League’. After that, the team played like Guardiola wanted. At first, he’d faced egos and resistance to change. Players wanted to play how they wanted, but after that meeting everything changed.
"We won our next league game 6-1 away at Sporting Gijon. Guardiola worked so hard. Every day, from eight in the morning until eight at night, he was in the training centre watching young teams. He was coming up with new tactics, always planning the little details. This was a big reason he was so successful."
Photo credit: Getty Images
