Pep’s job at Barca was easy, says Stoichkov

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The team was ‘already cooked’ apparently

Hristo Stoichkov has had a bit of a pop at Pep Guardiola by saying he had a pretty easy job as Barcelona manager.

The Bulgarian reckons Guardiola took over at team that was “already cooked” and belives Barca would have achieved great success with or without the Catalan in charge.

“Barcelona was already cooked. Pep’s work was easy, as he knew perfectly well the infrastructure of the youth system.

“Frank Rijkaard made the squad Pep took over. Messi and other players had already debuted with Rijkaard. Spectacular things would have been achieved with Pep or without.

“There was Thierry Henry, Deco, Ronaldinho, Rafa Marquez, Carles Puyol and Victor Valdes.

“There were a few players Pep needed to move, but Andreas Iniesta and Pedro came in, and there was more playing time for Lionel – then the team was complete.”

Source | Mirror

Guardiola famously won 14 trophies in four years at Barcelona, although that doesn’t appear to be enough to impress Stoichkov.

The former striker is a pretty colourful character with strong opinions. He’s already said this season he thinks the season should end and Barca be crowned champions and that Neymar “would be a bomb” in the dressing room if he returned from PSG.

Source: barcablaugranes.com