Zinedine Zidane, former Real Madrid coach believes Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola is the best coach in the world.
After ending his playing career in 2006, Guardiola entered the managerial ranks with his old club Barcelona two years later before taking over at Bayern Munich and Manchester City.
The Spaniard led Camp Nou to 14 victories while employing a tiki-taka style, winning three La Liga championships and two Champions Leagues.
After taking a year off, Guardiola joined German powerhouse Bayern in 2013, where he won seven awards over the course of three years, including three Bundesliga championships.
Since then, the 51-year-old has spent six and a half years at Man City, where he has won numerous trophies, including four Premier League championships, four EFL Cups, one FA Cup, and two Community Shields.
As his contract was set to expire in the summer, Guardiola’s long-term future at the Etihad Stadium had been questioned before this season.
However, the Catalan manager has signed a new two-year agreement, keeping him with the team until the summer of 2025, the Citizens reported on Wednesday.
“I am happy and comfortable here. I have everything I need to do my job as best as possible,” Guardiola told the club’s official website. “I know the next chapter of this club will be amazing for the next decade. It happened over the last ten years, and it will happen in the next ten years because this club is so stable.”
“From day one I felt something special being here. I cannot be in a better place. I still have the feeling there is more we can achieve together and that is why I want to stay and continue fighting for trophies.”
Numerous well-known personalities in the world of football have praised Guardiola, and World Cup champion Zidane is the most recent prominent figure to do so.
“He always proved that he is the best. First with Barcelona, then with [Bayern] Munich, now with Manchester City,” Zidane said via @ManCity.
“That’s my opinion. Some people can think other coaches are better but for me, he is the best.”
Three-time Champions League champion Zidane has only faced Guardiola twice in his managerial career, losing both meetings 4-2 on aggregate in the round of 16 of the 2019–20 competition.
The Frenchman, 50, is now unemployed after leaving Los Blancos at the conclusion of the 2020–21 season, but he has regularly been mentioned in connection with a number of prestigious managerial openings.
Following the firing of Mauricio Pochettino during the summer, there were rumors that Paris Saint-Germain had indicated an interest in Zidane. However, the Frenchman’s entourage dismissed these claims, and the Ligue 1 winners ultimately chose Christophe Galtier as their new manager.
According to a recent rumor, Zidane and the France national team have come to an agreement for him to succeed Didier Deschamps after the 2022 World Cup, with the paperwork of the arrangement “practically complete” after multiple meetings.
Where is Zinedine Zidane Now?
After taking a vacation from coaching 18 months ago, Zinedine Zidane is getting ready to return.
According to Sergio Valentin, a source in France, Zidane will take over as coach of the French national team after the World Cup in 2016.
Didier Deschamps, the current France head coach, has a contract that expires in December 2022, and it is not anticipated that he will sign a new one.
In an interview with L’Equippe, Zidane acknowledged that he was still coaching and hinted that he would take over as manager of the French national team.
I am not finished with Les Bleus. I want to do it, of course. I will be [France coach], I hope, one day. When? That’s not up to me. But I want to come full circle with the French national team. I met this French team as a player. And it’s the best thing that ever happened to me. But really! It is the peak. So, since I went through that and now I am a coach, the French team is firmly anchored in my head. Succeed Deschamps? I don’t know. If it has to be done, it will be done, at that time or not.
The 50-year-old has not held a management position since his second stint with Los Blancos ended in 2021, but he has consistently been mentioned in connection with the Bleus job.
