Holger Badstuber Criticises Pep Guardiola

Bayern Munich defender Holger Badstuber has criticised Pep Guardiola for not showing any interest in him during his time at the Bundesliga club.

Although Badstuber spent much of the three years of Guardiola’s reign sidelined by injury and despite the Catalan branding him one of the best central defenders in the world, the 27-year-old says he is only now starting to realise how he almost felt abandoned.

Under Carlo Ancelotti, Badstuber is still not playing due to injury, but he says he is at least talking to the coach.

“Our current coach likes to exchange opinions with the players, and so the conversation goes back and forth,” he told Sky Deutschland.

“That’s good too. With Pep, it was different. I would have to approach him because if I want to have a discussion then I will go looking for it.

“Of course it gives you a good feeling when the coach shows an interest. It was a bit different with our previous coach.”

Badstuber was unavailable for almost half of Guardiola’s reign as Bayern coach, but he hopes to make his first appearance of the season shortly after the international break, having returned to training following his latest injury setback.

“There are some really crap phases in life, but I accept that,” Badstuber said. “But I never thought about [retiring] because I know what I get out of football.”