Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola is taking football to levels never seen before, according to ex-Italy and AC Milan boss Arrigo Sacchi.
The Spaniard has become one of the most successful managers in the modern era, winning multiple trophies with Barcelona and Bayern Munich.
Sacchi, renowned for his stint as manager of AC Milan in the late 80's and early 90's, believes Guardiola is following in the footsteps of past trailblazers Johan Cruyff and Rinus Michels.
"He has carried forward total football even more," Sacchi said. "He is adding to it, making it better. He is a great coach and Manchester City play in his way with a real style.
"We're friends. We've known each other for a long time. He came to see how I worked when I was at Real Madrid. He's an obsessive, a perfectionist, he thinks deeply about football. He's one of the top ten coaches since the 1950s who have contributed to the evolution of football.
"He's in the tradition of Ajax's Rinus Michels and Cruyff. My football is a belief in total football. It comes from Ajax.
"Guardiola once said to me, 'I owe everything to you and Cruyff'. I said to him, 'Without Rinus Michels, there would have been no Cruyff and no Guardiola today.'"