Former Jürgen Klopp teammate offers tip on possible Pep Guardiola successor

MANCHESTER − Manchester City returns to Champions League action today against RB Leipzig at the Etihad Stadium after failing to take that final step in May with a 1-0 defeat against Chelsea.

Former football professional, Guido Schafer, shares the opinion of many City fans with regards to what happened that day in an interview with Manchester Evening News, where he also discusses a famous former teammate who Pep Guardiola knows very well.

Here are excerpts from that interview:

Leipzig is playing under new coach, Jesse March, and has endured a mixed start to the season. How do you think it has gone so far?

"It’s a very difficult situation now. In four games only three points, it’s not enough for RB Leipzig. It’s not so easy, it’s a new system he [Jesse Marsch] wants to play, not with ball possession, he wants to play with pressing, to go immediately to the box and play fast and furious.

"But this system, in this moment, is not perfect, because the last two seasons with Julian Nagelsmann, they played similar to Pep Guardiola teams with ball possession and great technique. Now it’s a new strategy, new players, new coach.

"I don’t think it’s possible to win against Man City but perhaps a draw, or a defeat like 3-1 or 3-2 will be so important for self-confidence."

It sounds like Leipzig are a team in transition − especially when you consider Dayot Upamecano followed Julian to Bayern.

"Yes, it’s the greatest transition of the last ten years, and in my opinion, it was a great fault to say to Julian 'okay, you go to Bayern Munich'. For me he is the best coach in the Bundesliga, a great tactical coach, I think he is a young Pep Guardiola.

"In Leipzig, it was very important to have such a coach. Now he is gone, I don’t think that he [Jesse] is so deep in the tactics as Pep or Julian."

It sounds a bit like Julian could be an ideal replacement for Pep Guardiola when the time comes in Manchester...

"It could be logical. He told us he loves Pep’s style. It’s quite a similar style, he wants all possession like Pep. Also, before big games, especially the cup final against Borussia Dortmund, he made great risks with new players and new tactics, and this is the not-so-good side of Pep and Julian.

"They try to do something special in big games − like the [Champions League final] against Thomas Tuchel and Chelsea."

Obviously, Pep Guardiola’s ideas have been influential across European football. Yet, how is Pep’s legacy viewed in Germany five years on from his time in the Bundesliga?

"We all have great respect for Pep, he is a very, very skilful coach. We know this, the way Bayern played was outstanding. They played a new style, Pep’s tiki-taka. Sometimes it was a little bit boring, but always successful in the league in Germany. They also won no international title with Pep, but he left a lot of things.

"He fits with the mind of Julian in this way to play football. I think he is a very, very great coach, but sometimes he thinks he is God's gift."

Of course, you have a foot in the other camp when it comes to English football’s big coaching rivalry having played at Mainz for six years with Jurgen Klopp...

"Jürgen is a lovely guy. He wasn’t such a good player, but he was a mentally good character and had a good brain. I think these things are very important for Jürgen in choosing his players. All Jürgen’s players have good character and good power and mentality, I think the talent is sometimes not so important but the brain and character beats the talent sometimes.

"Jürgen is an outstanding man, a lovely guy. I met him one year ago in Mainz, we had a good laugh, a good night and some drinks. He is still the same man he was when he left Mainz, this is the best thing you can say about a successful man like Jürgen Klopp, that he never changed.

"He is still lovely, I love him, we all love him in Mainz. For us, it was great that he won the English title in the battle against Pep − we hope that Jürgen will win!" – Agencies, September 15, 2021