Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers has pointed to former Barcelona Coach Pep Guardiola as one of the big influences on his approach.
Rodgers’ Reds meet Real Madrid on Wednesday in the Champions League and in advance of the fixture, he has been interviewed by AS.
As well as assessing the strengths of Madrid, Rodgers discussed what it was like to work with Luis Suarez before he left for Barca, and revealed the impact Guardiola has had on his management despite never having encountered the Bayern Munich boss.
“I’ve never met Pep. I was to go to Barcelona and spend four days there and see his training sessions, but I had to cancel, because of the ash cloud,” Rodgers admitted.
“Eventually I couldn’t meet him. But he’s a great Coach and I know, without knowing him personally, that he is a great person.
“He has a love and a passion for football, its principles and its big ideas, and he gives people confidence.
“I have learned from a distance, especially in his courage to play the game the way he does.”
The Spanish influence on Rodgers doesn’t stop at Guardiola, he added, having tried to merge three different styles of which Spain’s was just one.
“My influence is of Spanish origin. Not only Guardiola, but a fusion of the big European clubs,” he continued.
“The mixture of Spanish style, the Dutch and the British mentality, is very hard to beat. I always wanted to find a merger between the three.
“With the time to work I think that also improves the players. The key thing is to be happy.
“It’s not about what the Coach says or does, your résumé. In the end, people will judge me for what I’ve won, but for me the journey is more important than the end.”
