Total Football Quotes

I think Barcelona and the Spanish national team have been good for soccer because there are a lot of teams that come up playing from the back: with the goalie, the defense, moving up a defender to midfield, playing attacking soccer. I think fans want to see that. They want to see beautiful soccer, a spectacle, and Barcelona does that.

At Barcelona, it wasn't about winning all the time; it was first about how to win.

Barcelona have a unique approach to the game based on specific types of footballers playing together as one.

When I was a teenager, my idol was the Dutch footballer Johan Cruyff. He's the only person I've ever asked for an autograph.

Guardiola has a way of playing; he has a system, and he sticks to that.

Someone said that my coaching is a combination of Milan's defensive discipline and the Dutch propensity for attacking football, and I think that is a fair description.

I don't think City play a Brazilian style - it is more Spanish the way we play here.

Any coach in my era will reference or look at Guardiola's teams. If you look at the style of play, he has had a huge influence on football. And he has innovated it again.

Barcelona are special in the way they play. They're a machine.

You hear all these people saying, 'Oh, Pep, what a good manager he is.' Forget about it. Cruyff was the best, by far.

I'm an admirer of Guardiola's work.

Arsene Wenger's style of play is the sort of style the Chilean national team has. Therefore, I am used to it.

Pep's Barcelona was spectacular. They had a collective style based on players of talent, which sought control and sought to dominate all over the pitch.

I'm a footballing romantic just like Johan Cruyff. We like football that is attractive, attacking and easy on the eye. When you win playing like this it's twice as satisfying. I've always played attacking football: my footballing ideals are very clear and well defined. I've grown up at Barcelona with that style and that's the one I like. I think it's good to win like that, by taking the initiative right from the off.

Cruyff defined a philosophy and a style of how we had to play: positional play, type of players, the profile of the coaches, even.

Guardiola has come to City with a very unique style. And he wants to continue that philosophy. We had to work to adapt to his style.

The tactical way of Pep is the most incredible I have ever seen. When he was at Barcelona, that was their best team, I think.

My style of play has always been 'Guardiola style,' so I've not had too many problems. At the same time, he helps you to evolve and to change little things, because it's obviously not exactly the same style of play as at Bilbao.

Cruyff's idea was, quite literally, to play football - nothing more, nothing less. His idea of how football should be played was based not on controlling the opponent, but on the ball and the game.

For Guardiola, the system and tactics can change but not the approach, attitude, or philosophy.

Guardiola and I have the same idea of football.

I've never seen a Barca without control of the game. I've never seen a Barca that doesn't have the ball and lets the opposition attack all the time.

Spain started to generate a very good playing style from Pep Guardiola's arrival at Barcelona.