Guardiola’s former charge called him “disrespectful” and compared him unfavourably to Jupp Heynckes.
Atletico Madrid striker Mario Mandzukic has made some outrageous claims about his former boss Pep Guardolia, saying that the Bayern Munich head coach dropped him to prevent him finishing the season as leading goalscorer.
“Guardiola disappointed me because he didn’t treat me with respect. It was twice as good when Jupp Heynckes was there… Guardola did not play me (in the German cup final against Dortmund) because he didn’t want me to finish as leading scorer,” Mandzukic was quoted by the Daily Mail.
What Mandzukic doesn’t explain is why Guardiola might want to prevent his own player from winning the top goalscorer award. Clearly the Croatian target-man is not ideal for a Guardiola system, but that doesn’t explain any personal vendetta against the striker.
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Despite Guardiola’s best efforts, Mandzukic scored 29 goals in 44 games for Bayern last season, before the arrival of Robert Lewandowski forced him out this summer.
He’s made an equally strong start to life at Atletico, where he has replaced Diego Costa and has 10 goals in 15 games already.
Guardiola’s amazing intensity is part of what makes him a good coach, but it also makes it difficult to get along with him, and plenty of players – notably Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Yaya Touré and Samuel Eto’o – have fallen out with him in the past.
The former Barcelona manager also recently got in trouble in Germany for accosting a female official.
Bayern drew against second placed Borussia Monchengladbach at the weekend, but still look set to win the Bundesliga by an enormous margin.