Guardiola: People are right – I only won at Barca because I had amazing players

The Manchester City coach says he fully agrees with those suggesting his trophy haul in Catalonia and Bayern Munich was a product of the talent at his disposal

Pep Guardiola says he will readily admit that his success at Barcelona and Bayern Munich was a product of the “amazing” players at his disposal.

The Catalan won six league titles in seven seasons as a top-level manager in La Liga and the Bundesliga, but his Manchester City team has fallen seven points adrift of current Premier League leaders Chelsea this year.

And Guardiola insists that those suggesting his trophy haul at his two previous clubs was largely down to the calibre of players he had to choose from are right.

“I will not have success? I will not have success,” he told Thierry Henry in an interview for 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!”