PEP GUARDIOLA smiled when it was put to him that two of his old assistants are now among his biggest rivals.
He said: “If you want to be a manager, come on my staff — and maybe you’ll have a chance!”
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Speaking last month, the Manchester City boss was only half-joking.
But the fact is the managers of two of the Prem’s powerhouses have both served their apprenticeship under the master himself at the Etihad.
And on Sunday, Arsenal chief Mikel Arteta and Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca go head to head for the first time — in a vital London derby at Stamford Bridge.
What’s more, both are now expected to push Guardiola’s side for the major honours.
Guardiola said: “They are so young and will have much success in the future.
“It was a pleasure for me to work with them. The knowledge is back and forth, not just in one direction.”
Yet Maresca is sure that both he and his opposite number tomorrow owe a huge debt of gratitude to the man who has won six of the last seven Prem titles.
The Blues boss, 44, said: “I learned many things from Pep. If I’m here today, it’s probably because of the amount of things that I have been lucky to learn next to him.
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“Probably both of us, we have to be thankful because we worked beside the one who I consider the best manager in the world.”
And Arteta echoed those feelings, saying: “Enzo has had many years learning from some top people and he is proving he is a very good manager at the top level. Enzo has given his touch and you can see clearly what he wants to do.
“He has been very brave from day one to consistently follow what he wanted to do.
“I know a lot of people that know him well and are very happy with him that he’s making a lot of progress there.”
Arteta was the first to become one of Pep’s disciples, way back in summer 2016, and served a longer apprenticeship at almost three-and-a-half years.
It’s hard to believe it now — when you see him prowling the touchline at the Emirates — but Arteta was quiet when he first linked up with Pep.
Guardiola had identified the former Rangers, Everton and Arsenal midfielder as someone who could help him learn about the Premier League.
Arteta had only just hung up his boots and was determined to learn as much as he could for a future in management.
In the early days, Pep’s then-No 2 Domenec Torrent took his fellow Spaniard under his wing and relayed his ideas to the manager.
They quickly realised he had something special though — and four months into the season, Arteta was given his first real test.
Pep took the young coach into his office ahead of a game with Arsenal in December 2016 and told him ‘you’re in charge for this one’.
Luckily the young apprentice had guessed he would be asked his opinion — as he had been playing for the opponents a few months earlier.
So he had come prepared and Guardiola liked his ideas. City won the game 2-1 thanks to a late Raheem Sterling goal.
That won him respect from his superiors but he was learning so much from the former coach of Barcelona and Bayern Munich.
He says in the book ‘Pep’s City’: “From the start I was fascinated by Guardiola’s work ethic — his ability to transmit his ideas to his players and convince them they are going to work.
“How he simplifies the most complicated things so they appear straightforward.”
Arteta was not long retired and he would often be asked to join in training — as he and Pep felt it was an excellent way to see things from the ‘inside’.
After two years on the coaching staff, he stepped up to be the main assistant when Torrent moved to the MLS.
And many even viewed him as a natural successor to Guardiola — before Arsenal, who Pep always knew was the ‘club of his heart’, appointed him a year later.
It was a few months after that when Maresca first came onto the radar of the Etihad hierarchy.
He was recommended to City’s director of football Txiki Begiristain by their old boss Manuel Pellegrini. And he was appointed head coach of the Under-23s in 2020 – taking charge of Cole Palmer, James McAtee, Tommy Doyle and Liam Delap.
During his only season in that role, he led the club to the Premier League 2 title and impressed everyone.
Crucially, with Covid restrictions in full swing, he found himself in the same bubble as Guardiola and Begiristain and they quickly realised what Pellegrini had been talking about.
The City boss was soon telling everyone Maresca would go on to become an ‘extraordinary manager’.
A move to Parma did not work out, so when Pep’s assistant Juanma Lillo left for a job in Qatar in summer 2022, he was brought back to City — this time with the first team.
He was only back for a year — but what a year it proved to be as City swept to their historic Treble.
Leicester came calling for him to replace Brendan Rodgers but Guardiola urged him to see the season out and Maresca wanted to do that too.
The recent Netflix documentary ‘Together: Treble Winners’ shows the pair having a heated debate around a tactics board at half-time in the Champions League final.
Pep later felt the way he had approached the team-talk at the interval in Istanbul had been key to them beating Inter to win the trophy.
Leicester came back in for him a few days later and, after one season with the Foxes, he landed a job with one of the Prem’s superpowers.
Guardiola looked puzzled when it was put to him in pre-season that the new Chelsea boss was known as ‘Diet Pep’. He asked: “Is it because of the bald head and the beard?”
But he has known for a while there is a lot more to the Italian than that.
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IRVING, Texas – Ceremonial weigh-ins for the Jake Paul vs. Mike Tyson card take place Thursday, and you can watch a live stream of the proceedings here on MMA Junkie at 7 p.m. ET (4 p.m. PT).
The ceremonial weigh-ins take place at Toyota Music Factory in Irving, Texas. AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, the home of the Dallas Cowboys, hosts Friday’s fight card (Netflix).
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for Paul vs. Tyson.
Be sure to visit the MMA Junkie Instagram page and YouTube channel to discuss this and more content with fans of mixed martial arts.
England head coach Borthwick has made four changes from the side beaten by Australia in their last outing, including the reintroduction of full-back Freddie Steward and scrum-half Jack van Poortvliet.
George says both players are “frothing” at the prospect of facing South Africa.
“They are ready to take their opportunity because of all the work they have put in off the field,” he added.
“They have trained brilliantly and the nice thing is they are not coming in with one or two caps. They have played at international level and they are frothing at the bit to get involved.
“Whenever that ball goes in the air, the expectation is to catch the ball. Freddie [Steward] retrieves more ball for us than anyone and he is excellent in that area.
“The South African gameplan lends itself to putting the ball in the air a bit more, but there is no better man to have back there.”
England have not won at home since March when they beat Ireland in the Six Nations and George says the hosts need a result to match their performances.
“We always feel pressure to win,” said the 34-year-old.
“We know that the fans want a win and we want to bring that for them. They have been brilliant and we have spoken a lot about this connection with the fans, but I’m aware the performance only goes so far and we need to bring the result.
“I want the Allianz to believe we can win because we believe we can win.”
On the day he debuted in the UFC, Bo Nickal was already one of the most accomplished wrestlers to set foot in the octagon as a three-time NCAA Division I National Champion and he’d like to see more of those athletes join him in the sport.
Ahead of his return at UFC 309, Nickal revealed his hopes that more high-level wrestlers start making the transition to fighting like 2020 Olympic gold medalist Gable Steveson, who became a primary training partner for Jon Jones as he prepared for his fight against Stipe Miocic on Saturday.
“I would love that,” Nickal said during UFC 309 media day. “I would love to see as many high-level wrestlers as possible transition over to MMA. I think that the last decade or so, we really haven’t had the best collegiate wrestlers move into MMA. You have guys that have had success but we haven’t had the best of the best.
“So guys like Gable Steveson, it would amazing to see him transition over. I think that American collegiate style wrestling would take over the sport in short order.”
In addition to his comments about wrestlers making the move to MMA, Nickal also addressed his long layoff between fights and why he was OK with taking time off between his appearance at UFC 300 and returning at UFC 309 where he faces Paul Craig. Nickal also discussed Khamzat Chimaev’s recent win over Robert Whittaker and how far he has to go before he could potentially face the Chechen mauler.
ENGLAND fans were hit by lasers during their clash with Greece.
The Three Lions were treated with a hostile atmosphere in Athens as they looked to secure a win to keep alive their hopes of winning their Nations League group.
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Lee Carlsey’s side got off to a quick start as Jude Bellingham linked with Noni Madueke who slid across for Ollie Watkins to score.
But moments later Bellingham and the rest of his team-mates were targeted by lasers pointed from the stands.
Bellingham and Pickford were hit in the face by the green lights, which plagued England throughout the first half.
It comes after Chelsea players also had to combat lasers in a recent trip to Greek side Panathinaikos.
Christopher Nkunku was blasted by the same green light as he stepped up to take a penalty in the Europa Conference League clash, which he scored.
England fans slammed the behaviour of those inside the stadium and condemned the use of lasers.
One fan said: “See laser pens are alive and well in Greece 🤦♂️”
Another added: “Some t*** with a laser at the England game. I hope they stand on Lego.”
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A third wrote: “It could blind someone.”
And another commented: “Imagine being stupid enough to take a laser pen to a football match. They’ve had long enough now to find the person doing it.”
NEW YORK – Michael Chandler won’t set sights on a potential rematch with Dustin Poirier.
Chandler’s most recent outing came in a submission loss to Poirier in at UFC 281 in November 2022. Poirier was unhappy with Chandler’s antics during the fight and accused him of being a dirty competitor.
Poirier (30-9 MMA, 22-8 UFC) has hinted at one last fight before retirement, but Chandler (23-8 MMA, 2-3 UFC) doesn’t see “The Diamond” risking a potential loss.
“Yeah, I mean, not really,” Chandler told reporters on fighting Poirier during Wednesday’s UFC 309 media day. “I mean, Dustin’s got a win over me. He’s never going to take the chance in one of his last couple of fights to put that on the line and lose to me and have that stain on him the rest of his life. So, I know that for sure.
Chandler runs things back with Charles Oliveira (34-10 MMA, 22-10 UFC) in a co-main event Saturday UFC 309 (pay-per-view, ESPNews/Hulu/FX, ESPN+) at Madison Square Garden in New York.
He has bigger plans than trying to avenge his loss against Poirier.
“I’m not really worried about it,” Chandler continued. “I will be ranked ahead of him Saturday night at midnight when I beat Charles Oliveira. We’ve got other options: Max for the BMF belt, Islam for the title obviously. You’ve still got the Conor fight, still got ‘TUF 31,’ finishing that which needs to be finished.
“We had a contract signed. There’s a lot of options for me, and I don’t think he’s necessarily one of them at all. Maybe someday we’ll squash the beef, probably not. I think we will at some point. Right now, we’re just two dudes in the same division looking towards the same thing.”
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 309.
Be sure to visit the MMA Junkie Instagram page and YouTube channel to discuss this and more content with fans of mixed martial arts.
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