Lillo rejoined Pep Guardiola’s backroom staff at Manchester City this summer.
Juanma Lillo has admired Man City boss Pep Guardiola and offers insight into Pep’s insatiable appetite to keep improving himself and those around him.
Lillo rejoined his fellow Spaniard’s backroom staff at Manchester City this summer after a year away. Lillo will be the caretaker manager in place of Guardiola who takes time out to recuperate from back surgery.
Guardiola is due to return to Manchester after the September international break and Lillo expects him to be as hungry as ever.
“Pep is always very open, moment to moment, and he decides he always wants to improve and implement new things,” said Lillo, who will oversee the team at Sheffield United on Sunday and at home to Fulham next week.
“That sense is very sharp. He’s very intelligent. He grasps not only what he’s going to do, but with whom he’s going to do it.
“That helps to improve everyone that is around him. We all improve.
“We all try and to pitch in for Pep to always be there, but he doesn’t need a lot of input because he’s constantly building and debating and generating ideas.”
The 57-year-old was Guardiola’s manager at Mexican side Dorados de Sinaloa almost two decades ago and knew even then his former charge would make a good coach.
“We’ve been working hand in hand for many years,” said Lillo, who first joined Guardiola at City in 2020 before leaving for a job in Qatar two years later.
“He was my player back in the day. We have a relationship that goes all the way back and we understand things in the same direction.
“When he was a player it was the same. He already had a true vision. It’s very difficult to find someone such as him with such capacity and such willingness.
“He was already a bit of a coach when he was a player.”
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