Guardiola praises Ferguson

Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola has joined Europe’s leading football managers in praising Manchester United’s Alex Ferguson.

The United boss celebrated 25 years at Old Trafford with a 1-0 win over Sunderland on Saturday.

“I want to congratulate him. When somebody has spent 25 years at a team like Manchester (United) the only thing you can do is to stand up and take your hat off,” Guardiola said.

“I would like to be able to rebuild teams, because even though you are in the same team it is always changing because when you are there for 25 years they are all new teams, and they’re always so competitive.”

“He did it in the same team, but it is like changing a team, taking 11 different players, a different squad, and kept being competitive.”

“Only very intuitive people can do this, people who know what they want and what they look for. I want to congratulate him and hope he still has many, many years left.”