Pep Guardiola named the English player he thought was better than Steven Gerrard

When Pep Guardiola arrived at Manchester City in the summer of 2016, English football would be changed forever.

The Catalan player had finished Spanish football with Barcelona, ​​winning two Champions League titles, three La Liga titles and the first in the history of Spanish football.

He was in charge of Germany and Bayern Munich, where he won three consecutive Bundesliga titles.

But it was in England that he built perhaps his greatest legacy.

In ten years at the Etihad Stadium, Guardiola won 20 trophies, including six Premier League titles, one Champions League, three FA Cups and five League Cups.

The 2022/23 season stands out from all the rest – a record streak that has made City only the second English club to win the Champions League, Premier League and FA Cup in the same season.

He transformed a club that had spent much of its history in the shadow of its city rivals into one of the most feared and admired teams the game has ever seen.

And his influence on English football went beyond the lips.

The way the Premier League is played, the tactical demands placed on the players, the very standards expected of the title contender – everything changed during Guardiola’s time in England. Managers across the country are adapting, or falling behind.

So when Pep talks, football listens. He has worked both against and against some of the greatest managers and players in sports history. He has seen and conquered everything the game has to offer. His opinion is worth more than most.

Pep Guardiola has named Paul Scholes as his ‘favourite’ England midfielder

Speaking to Rio Ferdinand on the Manchester United defender’s podcast, Guardiola was asked the old question – Paul Scholes, Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard.

And his answer was vague.

Scholes is one of the greatest midfielders the Premier League has ever seen, and it is almost believable that the trio he formed with Gerrard and Lampard could not bring success to England on the international stage.

The Three Lions have three of the best midfielders in the world at one point – and somehow they didn’t make them work.

They were stuck in formations that didn’t work for either of them, with Scholes often being the odd man out or Gerrard getting fired up a lot.

Gerrard himself has been clear about why. Speaking on Ferdinand’s podcast, he said bluntly: “We were all arrogant losers. We didn’t have friendships or connections. We weren’t a team. We were never at any stage a really good, solid team.”

It remains one of the biggest regrets in English football. Three world-class midfielders – and Guardiola’s all-time favorite between them – and the world has never seen what they could have achieved together.

Read next: Sir Alex Ferguson’s special tribute to Paul Scholes