Russia’s national coach, Fabio Capello has admitted that the Atletico Madrid striker impressed him the first day he saw him play:
“during my entire career there’s only been one player who’s impressed as much as Messi the first time I saw him play and that’s Radamel Falcao. He’s an amazing striker and right now, he’s surely the world’s number 1”.
In an interview given to ‘La Gazzetta dello Sport’, Capello gave an overview of current events and spoke about the rivalry between Real Madrid and Barcelona:
“Their starting XI’s are very evenly matched, but if it depends on the strength of their benches, then Real wins”.
In his opinion only Manchester City has similar strength in depth from the midfield going forward.
“I find it ironic that the Real vs City game is the first and possibly the most important”, he said about the upcoming Champions League game between both clubs.
He gives much of the credit for Real Madrid’s recent success to José Mourinho.
“I like him a lot because he’s consistent and pragmatic. He knows how to adapt his system to the players he has and get the best out of them. He’s an excellent dressing room psychologist”.
However, he has a greater fondness for Pep Guardiola and what he’s brought to football at Barcelona.
“Despite having started young, he brought something new to the game and in football that’s very difficult to do. Using your attacking players to win back the ball so high up the pitch was unheard of, or if it had been done, it was never done so perfectly”.