Former England manager Fabio Capello
Fabio Capello has savaged Pep Guardiola for "doing damage to football"
Former England boss Fabio Capello has torn into Pep Guardiola, accusing the Manchester City boss of doing "tremendous damage to football".
The Italian has been a vocal critic of Guardiola in the past and labelled him as "arrogant" during a rant about the Spaniard in December following City's 2-0 loss to Juventus.
Guardiola has suffered the worst season of his professional career after overseeing a run of one win in 11 games earlier in the campaign, while his side were dumped out of the Champions League by Real Madrid.
The ex-Barcelona boss signed a new deal this season but has been heavily criticised after watching his team fall 23 points behind league leaders Liverpool following their 1-0 defeat to Nottingham Forest on Saturday.
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Capello insisted he was not "anti-Pep" and respected him as a coach, but couldn't resist the temptation to rip into him again by doubling down on his claim that he is arrogant.
The former AC Milan and Real Madrid boss also complained that coaches in Italian football were copying his iconic possession-based system where teams play out from the back, saying it had "ruined" the game.
"Do you know what I don't like about Guardiola? His arrogance. The Champions League he won with City was the only one in which he didn't try anything strange in the decisive games. But every other year, in Manchester and Munich, on the key days, he always wanted to be the protagonist.
Pep Guardiola
Capello said Italian football was "ruined" because managers were copying Guardiola's passing style
"He changed things and made up things so he could say: 'The players don't win, I win'. And that arrogance has cost him several Champions Leagues. I respect him, but I see that clearly. Also, although it is no longer his fault, he has done tremendous damage to football."
"Everyone has spent ten years trying to copy him. That has ruined Italian football, which has lost its nature. I said: 'Stop that, you don't have Guardiola's players!'. In addition, the absurd idea that playing well was just that. Touch, touch, touch.
"Now, in Italian football, the goalkeeper plays the ball! A disaster and also a bore that has scared many people away from football, they just have to watch the highlights. Why are you going to watch 90 minutes of passes and horizontal passes without fighting, without running?"
Manchester City next play Brighton in the Premier League before facing a crucial trip to Bournemouth in the FA Cup as they bid to end the season with a trophy.
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