Pep Guardiola has compared his Manchester City midfielders Kevin De Bruyne and David Silva to the engine-room of his former Barcelona team.
Midfielders Xavi Hernandez and Andres Iniesta were instrumental in bringing the Catalan Coach so much success to the Camp Nou, and he has outlined the qualities that made make both duos so similar and yet different.
“If we had so much success here and at Barcelona then it is because of the central midfielders,” Guardiola explained in an interview with ESPN Brazil.
“Xavi was a player with outstanding control and was very dynamic; he could hardly lose the ball and could control the rhythm of the game, reading it perfectly and knowing when to accelerate. Andres is similar but he is similar in that he is always changing the pace.
“David Silva is a mixture of both of them – he also knows when to control the tempo and when to accelerate.
“Kevin is energetic. He is not a controller and is more dynamic, coming from deep, finishing, crossing, appearing here and there, defending and attacking.
“He is the complete player, with less control and much more movement, although when he stops he is not as effective as Xavi, Andres and David,” he asserted.
