The retired Spain international believes the former Blaugrana coach will face a difficult challenge ahead of taking charge at die Roten
Ex-Barcelona centre-back Abelardo says incoming Bayern Munich coach Pep Guardiola will find it difficult to top Jupp Heynckes’ exceptional 2012-13 campaign.
The 68-year-old German, who has retired, led the club to an unprecedented treble, including the Champions League, Bundesliga, DFB-Pokal, and Abelardo believes Guardiola has his work cut out.
“Of course he knows that it’s gonna be difficult to top Jupp Heynckes’ feats this season,” the 43-year-old told Bundesliga.de.
“However, he also knows that, similar to his time at Barcelona, he will have a gigantic squad at his disposal along with great conditions to target the set goals.
“If there would have been any doubts, he wouldn’t have taken the job.”
Abelardo thinks the two European clubs share a similar approach to raising and promoting young players and that Guardiola did not have to think twice about the Bavarians’ offer.
“There are a lot of similarities between Barcelona and Bayern. Both are teams with a huge historic background, and he [Pep] knows that there are good talents,” he added.
“If I remember correctly, players like Philipp Lahm, Holger Badstuber, Thomas Muller and Bastian Schweinsteiger came from the B-Team. He likes that.
“As soon as there was interest from Bayern, I don’t think he thought about other opportunities.”