Niko Kovač Picking Pep Guardiola’s Brain in Qatar

Croatia national team coach Niko Kovač, together with his assistant coaches, brother Robert and Goran Lacković, have been in Qatar this week where they have been picking the brains of one of Europe’s leading clubs…

Kovač has begun creating his strategy for 2015 in Qatar where he was a guest at Bayern Munich’s winter camp. The Kovač brothers, who are both former Bayern Munich players, and Lacković met with a number of experts during the week, including a meeting with Bayern coach Pep Guardiola.

“I want to thank out former club Bayern who hosted us brilliantly and allowed is to see in detail how they work. We saw a lot at their trainings, and it confirmed that we are on the right track. Away from the pitch we also started preparing for the upcoming matches against Norway and Italy,” said Kovač, who says his footballing philosophy is not too far away from that of Guardiolas.

“Guardiola warmly welcomed us, we talked in general about football, and also in detail about working in football. We saw that we have a lot of similar ideas and Guardiola praised us on the mentality and talent of our players, saying that we have one of the best sides in Europe. If I had to single out one message (from Pep), then it would that as a coach you need to stick to your vision because at the end of the day you are responsible for results. We have very similar thoughts, maybe just a few details we differ on,” Kovač said.

Whilst in Qatar Croatia’s management also had a chance to see Schalke and Zenit who were both there preparing for the rest of the season in their respective leagues. (photo / hns)