Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola says he only won at former club Barcelona because he was blessed with “amazing” players.
Guardiola has made a patchy start to life in the Premier League after successful spells with Barcelona and Bayern Munich.
But responding to criticism of his management at City, Guardiola pointed out that his personal success is largely dependent on the players at his disposal.
“I will not have success? I will not have success,” he told Sky Sports.
“This happens to all of the managers – all the managers are sacked, all the managers win or lose, all the managers in November lose in the Premier League. All the managers in the world make mistakes.
“Do you think I am special or different? Of course not. But we were lucky, they said – we were lucky to have players like [Henry], like [Lionel] Messi, like Philipp Lahm, like Xabi Alonso, like [Robert] Lewandowski, and that’s why I had success.
“When I won in Barcelona many times, I said many times in the press conference, ‘We win because I have amazing players’. Huge club, amazing players. And the people say, ‘Ah, he’s humble. He is fake humble’.
“Now [they are telling me], ‘He won because he had amazing players’. Yeah, that’s true! I said years ago, it is normal!”
Guardiola has already lost three league games with City this season – not something he was used to with both of his former teams, where he won three league titles in Spain and Germany.
The Spaniard also led his Barca side to two Champions League titles, but clearly he faces a different kind of challenge at City.
Although City are blessed with plenty of excellent players, there are fewer world-class performers than at his previous clubs.
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