Barcelona’s Dani Alves claims Pep Guardiola wanted to lead Brazil at the 2014 World Cup finals, but was not wanted.
Today marks the one-year anniversary since Luiz Felipe Scolari’s Selecao suffered a 7-1 humiliation at the hands of Germany to exit the competition at the semi-final stage.
Speaking during an interview, the 32-year-old hit out at Brazilian football’s governing body (CBF) for wasting an opportunity to hire ‘the best Coach in the world.’
“I sin by talking too much, but I never lie,” full-back Alves is quoted as saying by AS. “Before the World Cup, Pep wanted to train the Brazilian national team but they didn’t want him.
“Guardiola said that he wanted to make Brazil world champions and that he had everything well studied.
“The excuse was that they didn’t know how the country would react. If we don’t accept the best in the world, who could make us even better, it’s saying you don’t care about the national team.
“Since I was in the national team, he already had the Brazil team in mind that he wanted to coach.”
Alves believes the CBF’s decision to turn a blind eye to Guardiola was made all the more baffling by the fact that the current Bayern Munich boss did not want any money from the role unless he met expectations.
“Pep is the best Coach in the world, the person who best manages a dressing room and who revolutionised football.
“We had the chance to bring in a Coach like that without spending money. His intention was to collect his wages if he achieved the results expected by the bosses.
“And they let an opportunity like that get away? Doing that, they were showing that they weren’t thinking about the Brazilian national team.”
