The legendary Dutchman believes the new Barcelona
coach can succeed at Camp Nou despite his lack of experience in the
European game
Barcelona icon Johan Cruyff believes that Gerardo Martino can follow in the footsteps of Frank Rijkaard and Pep Guardiola and succeed despite limited experience in Europe.Rijkaard led the Blaugrana to five trophies between 2003 and 2006 despite having only previously coached Sparta Rotterdam at club level, while his replacement Guardiola came straight from coaching the B side before leading the club to arguably the greatest spell in their history.
The Spanish champions announced on Tuesday that Martino has been appointed as the club's new head coach on a two-year deal despite having never coached in Europe, but although Cruyff admits he knows little about the 50-year-old, he is confident he can bring success to Camp Nou.
"I do not really know Tata. I hardly know anything about him," Cruyff admitted to El 9 TV.
"However, Rijkaard and Guardiola had not won anything either before they started at Barcelona and ended up being hugely successful.
"I have no doubt Martino can follow the same path."
Martino guided Newell's Old Boys to the Argentine Torneo Final title in 2013 after previously winning the Paraguayan league three times with Libertad and once with Cerro Porteno.