Manchester City’s Spanish manager Pep Guardiola gestures on the touchline during the UEFA Champions League, league phase football match between Manchester City and Inter Milan at the Etihad stadium, in Manchester, north-west England, on September 18, 2024 (Photo by Oli SCARFF / AFP) (Photo by OLI SCARFF/AFP via Getty Images)
Pep Guardiola has responded to Fabio Capello’s recent claims that his Barcelona side and their standards caused ‘damage’ to Italian football by insisting ‘I’m not good enough to ruin Italian football’.
In a recent interview with Spanish outlet El Mondo, Capello claimed that Guardiola’s dominant Barcelona side at the beginning of the 2010s ‘caused damage’ to football in Europe and in Italy, as other sides ‘spent a decade’ trying to replicate what was happening in Catalonia.
Capello believes that Italian sides tried to ‘copy’ Guardiola’s methods, system and way of playing, which he feels had a negative impact on the Italian game, as he claims many teams ‘lost their identity’ as a result.
Click here to read Capello’s interview in full.
Guardiola has since taken an opportunity to respond, insisting that he is ‘not good enough to ruin Italian football’, but has not taken any offence to Capello’s comments. Instead, he wants to give the former Milan, Roma, Juventus and England head coach ‘a big hug’.
They do say that imitation is the highest form of flattery after all.
Watch: Guardiola responds to Capello
“I listen to everything that people say about me. Everything, so be careful,” Guardiola joked during his pre-match press conference on Friday.
“It’s not the first time that Mister Fabio Capello said that. I’m not good enough to ruin Italian football. Italian football is much more important to the way we do it. A big hug for Fabio, a big hug.”
“I listen to everything what the people say about me, everything! So be careful. I am controlling you.”
Pep Guardiola has reponded to Fabio Capello calling him ‘arrogant’ 👀 pic.twitter.com/2Aexpilps6
— Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) March 14, 2025
