Bayern Munich head coach, Vincent Kompany has paid a heartfelt tribute to Pep Guardiola, crediting the Manchester City manager with giving him the confidence and belief to pursue a career in coaching.

Speaking in Berlin ahead of the German Cup final against Stuttgart, Kompany described his years working under the Catalan tactician as one of the most formative experiences of his professional life.

The Belgian, who captained Manchester City under Guardiola for three seasons between 2016 and 2019, said the trust his former manager placed in him was something he would always be grateful for. “I have my own personality and my own character, but the trust and belief that I could become a coach: for that, I owe gratitude to Pep,” Kompany said.

He also acknowledged that while his relationship with Guardiola in the dressing room was not without its complications, the experience was profoundly valuable. “I may not have been his best friend in the dressing room, or maybe I wasn’t always loved, but I had an incredible belief in his style of leadership,” he added.

Kompany was keen to push back against the popular narrative that Guardiola’s greatness is primarily tactical, arguing that the broader public has misunderstood what truly drives him.

According to the Bayern Munich coach, Guardiola’s defining quality was not his system or his formations, but an overwhelming, relentless desire to win in everything. It was that competitive hunger, Kompany said, that left the deepest impression on him and ultimately lit the spark for his own managerial ambitions.

The former City captain won back-to-back Premier League titles under Guardiola in 2018 and 2019 and has since built an impressive coaching career of his own, guiding Bayern Munich to the Bundesliga title and establishing himself as one of European football’s most promising young managers. His appointment at Bayern in 2024 was itself enabled in part by Guardiola, who reportedly spent nearly two hours on the phone endorsing Kompany to the club’s leadership, declaring himself one hundred percent convinced that the Belgian was the right man for the job.

Guardiola, for his part, has spoken warmly of Kompany’s development, noting that he recognised in his former captain the same hunger to learn and improve that he observed in other players who went on to become top coaches. The mutual admiration between the two men underscores a mentorship that has quietly shaped one of the most compelling managerial stories in European football from relegated Burnley to the summit of the Bundesliga in the space of a single year.