Bundesliga: Van Gaal etches against Ribery and Guardiola

Louis van Gaal has no good memories of his former FC Bayern Munich protégé Franck Ribery. In an interview, he sharply criticised the Frenchman – and a former Bayern coach.

The Dutchman told France Football: “I believe in the team, not in the individual” and added: “If you have great individual talents in your team, unfortunately you always have to adapt to the talent. It’ll be harder to build a real team.”

His esteem for players who are described as stars in the media because of their public appearance is correspondingly low. “To me, Figo was a star. Ribery doesn’t. He always thought more about himself than about the team,” van Gaal said. He also positively mentioned his compatriot Frank Rijkaard.

But that’s not all, because the “Tulip General” also had clear words for one of his successors as coach at Barcelona and Bavaria, Pep Guardiola: “Guardiola won last season everything there is to win in England. But the highest level is in the Champions League. And he won them neither with City nor with the Bavarians.”

And van Gaal also knows why: “That’s because he’s too busy with his own team and doesn’t pay enough attention to his opponents. There must be a balance.” Instead Guardiola always does “his own thing”.

Van Gaal himself once won the Champions League with Ajax Amsterdam in 1995 and is currently enjoying his retirement. Most recently, he trained Manchester United from July 2014 until his release in May 2016.