• 2 months ago
Guardiola on Rodri award and impact for city and Spain

29/10/2024

CFGA, Manchester, Uk
Transcript
00:00Good afternoon, guys, hope you're well.
00:06Same process as everyone, mics on either side.
00:08We'll set an embargo towards the end for 10.30 on this evening, sorry.
00:14Simon, please.
00:17Hi Pep, could you just start by talking about Rodri and the award that he won?
00:24Best player in, well, best player in the world.
00:26It's for a defensive midfield player.
00:29That is quite a feat.
00:33What can I say?
00:34First, of course, congratulate him and all his family and dear friends, it's incredible
00:44news for him, and of course for all of us, for all Manchester City, for our fans, we
00:49are so proud of him.
00:53I think it's the first time, we couldn't have imagined, you know, years ago that one
01:00player received this prestigious award, that we are so delighted to be part of it, to share
01:09it with him, and yes, hopefully can give him this energy to recover well for next season
01:20and be with us again.
01:23Manchester City were well represented last night, but Real Madrid obviously had the second
01:27and third in the list, but they weren't represented.
01:31What do you think about that?
01:32It seems slightly odd in a team sport that you don't like.
01:37Nothing to say.
01:38If they want to go, it's fine, if they don't want to go, it's fine as well, if they want
01:42to congratulate, it's fine, if they don't want to do it, it's fine as well.
01:47So absolutely Manchester City, we are not here to judge what the other clubs decide
01:50what they have to do.
01:56I would say for us, even last season for example, that Erling won the treble, more than 50 goals,
02:04and I said to him, just being there, you have to be so, so happy, and I think Roderick went
02:10there all the time, I said, if you are in the first two, three or four, it's exceptional.
02:15That means you have done an incredible year, and you have to be so, so satisfied, so last
02:21season Erling should have won, yes, Messi should have won like he won, yes.
02:27So this at the end is not important, important is that you know, represent something, the
02:32elite of football, because you personally, with your mates, with your friends, your teammates,
02:39have done something really, really, really nice, and after the people will believe that
02:44maybe you should win this one, it's fine, you know, you should win Benicio's, maybe,
02:50you know, but there are 100 journalists, you know, it's not a group of people, elite people
02:55that decide what they have to do, it's all around the world, it's not just one country,
02:58it's all around the world, around the world, you know, there are different opinions, that's
03:04why football is nice, everyone talks, and that's nice, I think Roderick made an incredible
03:09speech, that I think spoke about personal, the family, and of course Man City, but especially
03:15Spanish football, and I think it's, and I completely agree with him, I think Spanish
03:19football in the last decade make an incredible thing, with different national trainers, with
03:24incredible players in the past, with winning the World Cup, the Euros Cup, and never, never
03:31were able to, you know, to win this award, and I think represent Roderick perfectly,
03:36and of course City, that we are so proud, but as well the Spanish football, you know,
03:40the Spanish football, the influence in the world football in the last 10, 15 years have
03:44been massively important, not just winning trophies, the way they play, generations with
03:50the managers, generations with the players, and I think, you know, maybe in that time
03:57I remember when three players from the academy, from Barcelona, La Masia, we were nominated
04:01all three, you know, to win the Ballon d'Or, and Xabi Iniesta could not win because he
04:05was a monster, and Messi, nobody could beat him, just Cristiano, you know, Cristiano was
04:10a monster, and the father of the monster is Messi, and both, you know, have done something
04:16incredible in the last 20 years, I would say 50, 20 years, and maybe in that moment Xabi
04:22Iniesta deserved it as well, so I think, I think Roderick yesterday, you know, get what
04:28the Spanish football deserves in the world wide.
04:32Could I just ask you as well about Eric Ten Hag and the news from yesterday, you've obviously
04:38been in the same city as him for just over two years, you've clearly in the league dominated
04:44Manchester United, but possibly his greatest day was against you, what was your thoughts
04:50when you found out what happened?
04:51I always feel sorry for my managers, you know, lose his position, so I'm so sorry for him
04:58I have a good, I think incredible relation, I think he represents Man United in the highest
05:04level in terms of behaviour, of course, so our job, the manager, is one of the few jobs
05:10in all the jobs in the world that the people is expecting to be sacked, the people is expecting
05:15you to have a job, so I don't see architects or doctors or teachers or anything that people
05:21desire to get out, it's only us, so it's our job, we have to accept it, I wish him all the
05:28best, he and his family, and of course he's going to come back stronger, and he knows,
05:34I know, everybody knows that our job depends on the results, and the results are not good
05:39enough, so always we are in the birds that stay or be sacked, and I'm saying that, even
05:46myself I'm not an exception, so if the results were not good, there is anything that can
05:52sustain it.
05:54How do you cope with that Pep, like your whole life is based on those results, I mean
05:58we think back to the summer don't we, all the talk was if he didn't win the FA Cup final
06:02he'd be sacked, he did, got a new contract and then a game against West Ham, lots of
06:06missed chances, a VAR decision, and ultimately it cost him his job.
06:11Well if you decide to be a manager or you understand that, the better, don't do it.
06:17Decide to do another job, so a job unfortunately is as simple as that, you have to get results,
06:26if you are because you are handsome, or because you are in good speech, or you are good relation
06:31with the hierarchy, forget about it, I have incredible relation with my hierarchy, but
06:35if you don't get results, if I didn't get results I wouldn't be here, it is a business,
06:40and when you become a manager you have to know it, you start from zero, but at a certain
06:46moment you have to take results, otherwise nobody can keep it safe.
06:52It helps that you are handsome too though, doesn't it?
06:54Sorry?
06:55It helps that you are handsome too.
06:57I was.
06:58Can I ask you about when you were a player, because obviously I know you played different
07:02roles but you played the same role in a team as Rodri, when you were playing in some great
07:08teams with some great players, could you have imagined that a player in that position
07:11would be voted as the best player in the world?
07:14Yeah, why not, I have been a central defender, I won this award in the past, so normal is
07:21normal, football what is nice is the goals, the people who score goals and make incredible
07:28talent actions, that is normal, but you know the era from Cristiano and Messi, Messi-Cristiano
07:37have been unbelievable, how they shared it, how they deserved it, they were another level,
07:44another one, and now everyone can win it, and at the end the opinion is free, and that
07:55will happen when the people are allowed to vote, you know?
07:59You have to accept the result, it's simple, sometimes you like it, sometimes you don't
08:04like it, but it doesn't matter, so tomorrow is another game, another season, try to do
08:07it again, so sport is like that, in sport you lose more than win, and teach you a lot
08:17that another chance is there to try it again.
08:20And can I finish by asking about Erling, obviously again he has been voted as one of the best
08:25players in the world, and yet he chose to go to Sweden to see one of his boyhood friends
08:31go and win the title this week, what does it say about him as a person?
08:34Sorry?
08:35He went to Malmö to see one of his friends.
08:38Yeah, he went to see Malmö win the Swedish league, I just wonder what does it say about
08:42him, that he wants to go and be with one of his friends, share in their success, obviously
08:48when he is one of the best players in the world, he has got plenty of other things going
08:51on like Premier League matches and Champions League matches?
08:55Well our schedule is so tight, Erling will be father soon with his girlfriend Isabel,
09:04and we will have one or two days off, so the people decide, he won last season, and always
09:09sometimes I have been nominated, I won, sometimes I have not been, sometimes I have games now,
09:14tomorrow, so the schedule is so tight, listen, the people is free to go and don't go, you
09:20don't want to go, don't go, you have to explain why Erling didn't go, why he didn't go, why
09:27the institutions didn't go, listen, no problem at all, so I have a moment with a friend,
09:37decided to go there, and I am pretty sure that Erling is really, really, really happy
09:42for Erling, I don't have any doubts about that.
09:47Rodri, do you feel part of it as well, because you helped creating a system?
09:52Yeah of course, without me he had no win, yeah for sure, come on, everybody is a sport,
09:58it is not individual, even individual sports, like I can see tennis players or golf players
10:04need the people, so of course Rodri is not stupid and knows that he needs this club,
10:10this organisation for many things, his mates, you know, to achieve it, of course he knows it,
10:16especially holding midfielder, but contribution has done to the success we had, not just last
10:24season, here with Spain winning the Euros, so have been massive, have been without him,
10:32so we are playing, we are going to play this season without the best player nominated,
10:37the best player in the world, so the absence is really, really important, and of course
10:43his contribution in our success, everybody knows it, come on.
10:50And like I said, after Cristiano and Messi left Europe, the criteria now, there is way more...
10:57Open.
10:58Options, yeah, and amongst that, do you understand people that feel that
11:01Vinicius should have won that?
11:03Yeah, of course.
11:05Of course he deserved, maybe if he should have won, would be more than well deserved.
11:12Like last season when Erling didn't win, and he was there, he was happy and congratulated Leo,
11:18and Erling had to go to try next season if we can be there again, and as I said, Erling was,
11:25I don't know, 4 or 5 or 6 or 7, he is really good, being one of the 4 or 5 best players in the world,
11:32so that is magnificent.
11:34So yeah, but we'll be open, now many, you know, normally the teams who are going to close to win
11:41titles will be, you know, more chance to win.
11:46For example, Carlo Ancelotti, like I congratulate deeply for the big success, for the best manager
11:52in the world, but it was Gasperini with Atalanta that make it incredible, this club what it has done,
11:59it's amazing, or Luis de la Fuente with the manager for the Spanish team, the incredible tournament
12:04has done, winning all the games against incredible staff.
12:07Do you think they didn't deserve it?
12:09Of course they deserve it, but people vote and decide for Carlo, it's well deserved.
12:15Yeah, so it's just, you know, this event has to be a joy, you know, to make the football a better business,
12:22you know, for the people there, and accept the results like normality, sometimes we win,
12:27sometimes we don't, nothing happens.
12:29But all I can say on behalf of Man City, because I am here, representing the club, we are all delighted,
12:35we could not imagine it, we are so happy that Roderick for the first time in this club,
12:39first players won this award, and you know, it's like Premier League, Champions League, like,
12:45okay, the Ballon d'Or, so one player from Man City, we are so proud of that, we are really, really happy.
12:51Spurs, how is the team looking like for tomorrow?
12:56Yeah, well, a few players, but yeah, we are going to try to do a good game, to try to go through.
13:04It always happens, last season we were out against Newcastle and we played really well,
13:09so perform well, this is what I want, no injuries please, and yeah,
13:14and go to the last week before the international break in November.

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