PSG star, Zlatan Ibrahimovic has revealed the difference between the coaching styles of Jose Mourinho and Pep Guardiol. The Swedish player played under both managers during his spells at Inter Milan and Barcelona in 2008/2009 and 2009/2010 seasons.
“Mourinho is the disciplinarian. Everything with him is a mind game — he
likes to manipulate. Such tricks were new for me — all the time doing
one thing to get another thing, all the time triggering me. I like these
games and it worked for me; I became top scorer under him and we won
the league. As long as it works and as long as we win, it’s all good
with me.
“The way
Mourinho prepared for games was also new to me. I would get pumped up,
believing the story he would feed us. I went through a lot of adrenaline
when I played for him. It was like nothing was ever good enough. He
gave and he took. Jose Mourinho knows how to treat a footballer, but
Carlo knows how to treat a person.
“After Mourinho I
went to Pep Guardiola, the big brain in football. He had all these
solutions for every team we played against, knowing exactly what we
needed to do to win, exactly how he wanted it achieved. We could be
winning 2–0 at half-time, but he would say, ‘We’re not finished here. I
want three, four, five, six, seven.’ He was like a machine.”