'I learned a lot from Ibra' says Pep

[Bojan]

FC Barcelona coach, Pep Guardiola, spoke for FC Barcelona official website on Barca's next opponent and Zlatan Ibrahimovic.



Hercules

The FC Barcelona coach believes that Esteban Vigo's side will not have any fear when they visit Camp Nou on Saturday. "They are focussed, fast and like to play against you," he said. "Teams that come up from the second tier are always keen in their first few games. I want to congratulate them after returning to the top flight after so many years. Vigo has done a great job and they will come here with little pressure and nothing to lose."

"They have a good squad, very experienced, and we will have to play well if we want to win," Guardiola continued,. "I think this will be a great game for the fans to see and will be highly competitive."

Carles Puyol picked up a knock while on international duty with Spain but the Barca coach believes he could play a part against Hércules. "He has been very good and has trained well," Guardiola explained. "All the players have come back in good form. There have been no worries and everyone is in good spirits. They have all trained hard and impressed me."

Bojan

Bojan Krkic has taken the number nine shirt and is expected to continue his progress and Guardiola is pleased with what is seeing. "I think that he is a better player now than he was two years ago and in another two will be even better than he is now," he said. "He continues working every day and we will help him on his path to being a better play. Personally, I have a lot of confidence in him. He has room for improvement and with his disposition he will reach the top."

Ibra

Josep Guardiola has reflected on his efforts to make Zlatan Ibrahimovic become a great player at FC Barcelona. "Ibrahimovic must know that I did not know what more I could do," the coach said. "He has been a professional for eight seasons and I have been a coach for two. I do want to thank him for his efforts and all the work and dedication that he gave during his year with us. I understand that he was not comfortable working with me, but the only thing that I can say is that it was a pleasure for me to coach him and I learned a lot from him."

On his role as coach Guardiola added: "Barça is made up of great players with enormous talent and it is not my place to change personalities, but instead to bring out the best in them. I hope that [Ibrahimovic] has luck with his new team and can become an important player and reach the Champions League final, which is one of his dreams, and that he will have everything that we could not give him here."

[FCBarca]

Such a classy, classy manager...Pep, you are a living legend

[stokebarca]

Certainly dignified statement regarding Ibra and very wise not to inflame the situation any further

[Bojan]

Such a classy, classy manager...Pep, you are a living legend

I wanted to simply name the thread "More words from a great man". Pep is truly awesome.

[FCBarca]

He is an example to be followed...Aspire, that's what I think of when I think of Pep

[Wolfe]

Classy coach. Shows that he puts his soul into his work. Even admits that he still is practically a newbie in managing business and tries to turn Ibra's trash-talking onto him. I wonder if Raul will be a similar kind of manager in the future

[ricknattery]

What a man! It takes real courage to accept your mistakes and also to be able to handle a situation like this, not talking bad about somebody even if you are being attacked. We al know Ibra is a great player but he has never played the way a Barca player should play. He didnt run enogugh, he didnt pressure enough,...maybe Pep thought he could change Ibra's game but a 28 year old soccer player ddoesnt change his style. Pep tried and he failed. The same way he tried to make the best team in the world and he has accomplished that: 8 out of 10 possible titles in 2 years(including a 2-6 in Bernabeu) after 2 years of bad results and no titles. Visca el Barca, Visca Pep!

[M.L. King]

What a man! It takes real courage to accept your mistakes and also to be able to handle a situation like this, not talking bad about somebody even if you are being attacked. We al know Ibra is a great player but he has never played the way a Barca player should play. He didnt run enogugh, he didnt pressure enough,...maybe Pep thought he could change Ibra's game but a 28 year old soccer player ddoesnt change his style. Pep tried and he failed. The same way he tried to make the best team in the world and he has accomplished that: 8 out of 10 possible titles in 2 years(including a 2-6 in Bernabeu) after 2 years of bad results and no titles. Visca el Barca, Visca Pep!

To err is human. It takes a great man to acknowledge his mistakes. It takes an even greater one to rectify and avoid repeating them, i.e. do not wash your icky linen in public.

I have to admit that Pep has been tolerating Ibrahimovic's slander stoically and admirably at once.

[-zlatan-]

i hope ac milan go into the final of the CL Barcelona vs Milan !

[Huckleberry]

Well done Pep. But still nobody knows what happened... ;-)

[tonio7]

In my family we say, "Señor se nace"... in other words, you have to be born a gentleman, and Pep is a gentleman.

I never publicly stated my thoughts here re Ibra, but I will say one thing: never liked him, in fact I hate the a-hole for a simple reason... everywhere he goes he always says the same crap, i.e. "This is the best team" or "This has always been my team", or the latest at Milan, "This is the best shirt to play for"... blah, blah, blah you f'n mercenary!

[BADGERBHOY]

i hope ac milan go into the final of the CL Barcelona vs Milan !

Me too!
We owe them a CL Final doing after what they did to us in 94

[Metaphysical]

pep is molten magnificence.

[Huckleberry]

some very smart statements... You have to read them carefully!

[Richard.H]

Pep you are amazing. You have infinite class