I Have Spied On Opponents In The Past – Pep Guardiola

Pep Guardiola has confessed about his history with spying on opponents but also confirmed that he did not intend to do it in England.

He said, “In other countries everybody does that. They are open. When I was training in Munich there were people on the mountain [overlooking training] with cameras and long lenses watching what we were doing. Everybody does it.

“It’s the culture of all the clubs, not just the previous ones where I worked. It was a part of the club. But I’m not going to send someone to Huddersfield if that is the question.”

Guardiola and former Athletic Bilbao boss Bielsa were rivals during their time in La Liga and Guardiola once joked that Bielsa knew more about his Barca team than he did.

“My respect remains the same,” Guardiola said. “He was clear in his statement. I admired what he did in the past, why should I change my opinion. It remains the same. I understand [Derby coach] Frank Lampard’s position too.

“It was impossible to look at us at Barcelona. The story is true. No manager has the amount of information he has for every single game, every season. It is unique.”

On the condition of his plaers currently, “Mendy is closer but not for this weekend,” he said. “It was the third or fourth training session with the team and he is training incredibly well. Now it’s time to get in his best condition.”