Maurizio Sarri and Pep Guardiola share a philosophy, one that could see Chelsea bridge the gap to Manchester City

Pep Guardiola and Maurizio Sarri are rivals now, but you would not know it from the way Sarri spoke about Guardiola at his unveiling at Stamford Bridge yesterday afternoon.

The big six Premier League managers are a spiky, competitive and often egotistical bunch, each trying to prove he is better than the rest. Just look back to Antonio Conte calling Jose Mourinho “a little man in many circumstances”, or Mauricio Pochettino bristling at Guardiola’s “Harry Kane team” comment.

But this relationship, between the managers of Chelsea and Manchester City, is already on a very different footing. There is an imbalance in their CVs – Guardiola has won 23 major trophies in his career, Sarri has won none – but there is a mutual affection based on a shared understanding of the game.

After City beat Sarri’s Napoli 2-1 in the Champions League last season, Guardiola hailed Napoli as sharing the “same idea” as City – high pressing, lots of passing, personality to play under pressure – and even said they were “maybe the best” team he had faced in his whole career. Guardiola especially admired how, in an Italian football culture where most teams defend in their own penalty area, Sarri’s team defend 40 metres further up the pitch. Guardiola said it reminded him of Arrigo Sacchi’s great Milan team of the 1990s.

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Sacchi is a shared touch-stone and mentor for both Guardiola and Sarri. Guardiola loves to watch Napoli games at home on television and was so impressed with how they took Cagliari apart that he called Sacchi to gush about it, calling them the best team in Europe.

So this summer, during the first week of the World Cup, Sacchi brought the two men together. At his favourite restaurant, Perla Verde, in Milano Marittima, a resort on the Adriatic coast, just south of Ravenna. Guardiola, Sacchi and Sarri posed for smiling photos afterwards.

Five weeks on Sarri was unveiled as the new Chelsea manager at Stamford Bridge. Where he will try to do what Guardiola started doing two years ago at City, imposing a complex pressing and passing style of play on his squad. He has won their first battle, convincing Jorginho to sign for him, rather than for Guardiola, a move that infuriated City. The pair will go head to head in the Community Shield on 5 August. But over a longer time-frame, can he replicate Guardiola’s achievement at Stamford Bridge?

(Getty)

“Well, he is a class act, a champion, a genius, so it is difficult to explain what his insights are,” Sarri said of his friend. “Clearly in his first year he had some difficulties as well. However, I think that getting 100 points in the Premier League [as City did last year] is an extraordinary feat. Something that cannot be repeated. We are talking about a genius.”

Last season Conte’s Chelsea finished 30 points behind City and Sarri is hoping to close that gap this year. “The first step is to fill the gap,” he said. “The gap was quite clear last year, but two years ago it was in favour of Chelsea. I hope it was an occasional gap, not a structural one. We want to make it in occasional gap.”

It will not be easy for Sarri but he takes heart from the success in recent years that other coaches with foreign ideas – Guardiola, Conte, Pocchetino, Jurgen Klopp – have come in and imposed their styles of play on Premier League sides. He believes his ideas will work if he is given time.

“It is a difficult challenge but a fascinating one,” he said. “Here we have the strongest coaches in the world and the strongest players. The Premier League is different from Serie A because it is stronger. Serie A is tactically difficult but here there are stronger players. I have also noticed over the last years, something has changed in the Premier League as well. It is not a typically English league, in terms of playing. This has given me confidence, though I know it will be difficult.”

Ultimately Sarri’s idea of football - energetic, imaginative, surprising – is played to be enjoyed, by the fans and the players themselves. He kept coming back to the idea of “fun” in his press conference. That is how he sees football and what he wants from his Chelsea team. “Ours is not a sport, but a game,” Sarri explained. “Anybody who plays a game started doing that as a child for fun, and the child in us must be nurtured because this often makes us the best. The professional aspect brings out the best, but 99% of the time, not 100%. So to create play that is fun is the first thing to obtain a style of play for a high-level squad.”

It sounded like the opposite of something Mourinho might say, and when Sarri was asked what he thought about the man who won three Premier League titles at Chelsea, the contrast with his comments about Guardiola was obvious. “He has won everything and I think that is enough for a manager,” Sarri said. “Someone who has this track record does not need a description. We are talking about a world level coach and manager. My playing philosophy is closer to Guardiola, but I appreciate both of them, in the same way.”

This has not been a common approach at Chelsea over the years but this feels like a club in need of a fresh start on the pitch. And while Sarri does not have the CV of a Conte or Mourinho, he does have a commitment to enjoying the game that could rejuvenate this club. Just like Guardiola has done for City.

“My goal is to have fun as long as I’m here, and possibly to be competitive in all competitions until the end,” Sarri said. “My personal objective is to have fun. Because I think that in life, the biggest gift you may receive is to have fun while you do your job. Few people have this, but I hope this will happen to me and I manage to do that.”