Koeman to put Guardiola friendship aside for 90 minutes

Ronald Koeman’s long-standing friendship with Pep Guardiola will be put on hold on Saturday as the Everton boss goes in search of three points at the Etihad Stadium.

The Everton boss shared a room with a young Guardiola during his time as a player at Barcelona and the pair have remained in contact ever since.

And Koeman has revealed he can still see a lot of the lessons learned by the young Spaniard during those days shine through in his management career at Barcelona and now at City.

“We have spent many hours together talking about football,” Koeman explained.

The Barcelona team for the 1994 Uefa Champions League Final. Pep Guardiola and Ronald Koeman are second from and fourth from the left on the back row respectively. (Photo by Bob Thomas/Getty Images)

“When he was younger he was really interested in the way that we play football in Holland and I see a lot now in the teams managed by Pep about Barcelona, about Dutch football and I like that because that’s the most difficult way to win – to play offensive football and to win titles.

“We are really strong friends. Now it’s a little bit more easy because he is living in Manchester, I live close to Manchester and sometimes we have time to have dinner and to talk about football and life.

“We are friends. I wish them all the best – but not on Saturday.”