Arjen Robben has described former Bayern Munich boss Pep Guardiola as the “master of offensive football” and says the Catalan is the best coach in the world.
The former Bayern Munich winger says that he felt he was on the same wavelength as the successful Spaniard
Former Netherlands international Arjen Robben, who announced his retirement from football last July, spent three seasons playing under Guardiola during his decade with Bayern.
The 36-year-old was brought to Bavaria by Louis van Gaal and also worked with Carlo Ancelotti, Jupp Heynckes and Niko Kovac at the Allianz Arena, as well as Jose Mourinho at Chelsea.
But Arjen Robben feels that Guardiola is the coach who helped him to improve the most, with the pair sharing the same ideology of how the game should be played.
“I love football and, above all, the offensive football – and Pep is a master at it,” he told Socrates magazine.
“He focused on attack and total ball control. Of course, I particularly liked that. We were on the same wavelength.
“He made sure that I became more complete. For me, Pep is the best coach in the world. The three years with him in Munich were extremely instructive.”
Robben joined Bayern from Real Madrid in 2009 and won 20 major honours, including a memorable Champions League triumph in 2013 when scoring a late winner against Borussia Dortmund in the final to secure the treble.
However, he was not sure at the time whether swapping Madrid for Bayern would be a good choice for him.
“Back then, my only wish was to win the Champions League and Bayern was not one of the top clubs in Europe,” he said. “But I took the risk and it was worth it.
“It was really not an easy decision for me at the time. But going to Bayern was the best of my career in retrospect.”
Arjen Robben turned out over 200 times for Bayern in the Bundesliga and scored 99 goals over a decade-long association with the club. During this time, he won eight league tiles, five DFB Pokal trophies and also the 2012-13 Champions League.
Meanwhile, he played 96 times for the Netherlands, helping them to a second-place finish at the 2010 World Cup and third four years later.
Source: Goal.com
