Robert Lewandowski on Pep Guardiola, Carlo Ancelotti and Jurgen Klopp – 'He changed, he realised that…'
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Barcelona striker Robert Lewandowski has sat down for an interview with Rio Ferdinand as part of the former England international's series, revealing plenty about his career and some of the iconic figures in it. Lewandowski has also noted a change in Pep Guardiola in recent years that he feels has helped the Manchester City coach.
Guardiola came off authoring Barcelona's most successful era in their history for four years, before taking a year-long sabbatical and joining Bayern Munich. There he met with an established Lewandowski as one of the best number nines in the world, and his style clashed intially.
"As a human he was difficult for the players, because at the time, he was so brilliant with the football tactics, that he thought, if they follow me, they will win. In later times, I have seen that he has changed."
"I think he realised that if he is more human and more open, then it can help him more than tactics sometimes."
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"I understand if you're playing a team that does not have a big chance [to beat you], but if you are playing against a big side. Tactics are important, I don't want to say they are not, but in my mind, at this level, different things can be decisive between winning and losing."
After Guardiola, Bayern swung in a different direction, with current Real Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti. The latter tends to be praised for exactly that – his human quality.
"Ancelotti is like a father, or an uncle. He can come to you, he can say why are you not happy, he can talk about everything. You know Klopp, amazing guy, he can talk to you and he knows when to be more tough, and when he should be more like a friend."
"From the first training session [with Guardiola], I was very impressed, he was very focused on details in the training session. Things that I never thought about before, but even the rondos for him, the exercise was so important, whereas I just thought we are playing."
"Sometimes the tactics are too much, sometimes you need the individual."
The one who changed his career was ex-Borussia Dortmund and Liverpool coach Jurgen Klopp though. Lewandowski made his leap into the elite with a swashbuckling Dortmund side that was kickstarted by Klopp. When the Polish forward arrived though, it was Klopp's close personal treatment that instigated that.
"I lost my father at 16, so I was very closed, I went to talk to him, and we would speak like an hour and a half. I didn't understand everything, because I was only recently in Germany, but it wasn't so important what was being talked about, but that he was talking to me like that."
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"After two days, we went and we won 4-0, I scored a hat-trick and gave the assist, and I thought what could have changed so much? But at that time, maybe it was my personal situation, but it unlocked something in me. I needed that emotionally at that time, these conversations changed their career."
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