Al-Nassr has managed to land Cristiano Ronaldo, one of the best soccer players to ever exist in the history of the sport. The Portuguese forward will play under the guidance of Frenchman and head coach of Al-Nassr, Rudi Garcia.
Cristiano Ronaldo has won every trophy possible in the club soccer parameters. He has played for the likes of Manchester United, Real Madrid, and Juventus. Naturally, the Portuguese has been managed by some top-class managers. Starting with the incredible Sir Alex Ferguson to the ‘Special One’ Jose Mourinho, Ronaldo has been managed by soccer royalty. But his new manager, Rudi Garcia, is an interesting character as well.
Rudi Garcia born on February 20th, 1964, started his career as a soccer player. His father Jose gave him the first opportunity by drafting him for the local Corbell-Essonnes. Later on, he was selected at the ranks of Lille, before making it to their first team in 1983. Predominantly he played as an attacking midfielder. Garcia was forced to retire at 28, following a series of back and knee injuries.
Who has Rudi Garcia managed before Cristiano Ronaldo?
Rudi Garcia started his managerial career with Corbell-Essonnes in 1994. He stayed at the French lower-division club for four years and moved out to Spain to gain more experience. Garcia returned to France after a few years and went on to manage the French giants Lyon, Marseille, and Lille. He also had a three-year spell at Italian outfit Roma.
During his time in France, Garcia managed some really exciting players. He played a pivotal role in the development of the Belgian superstar Eden Hazard in Lille, who went on to play for Chelsea and Real Madrid. Garcia has also developed Brazilian winger Michael Bastos who had a decent playing career.
Garcia signed the likes of Juan Iturbe and Antonio Sanabria, who were regarded as soccer wonderkids at that time. He also managed Totti and Ashley Cole at Roma. He became the Al-Nassr head coach in the summer of 2022 and will be managing a 5x Ballon d’Or winner in the Saudi capital.
Rudi Garcia branded ‘a cold human being’ by Juninho
Rudi Garcia has the opportunity to manage one of the all-time greats of the sport, but Brazil legend has taken a dig at Garcia amid the positivity. Juninho was the sporting director of Lyon when Rudi Garcia was appointed as the Lyon manager in 2019.
Juninho didn’t keep secrets about his feeling towards Garcia. The Brazilian said, “my experience with Rudi García was terrible. He is the baddest character I have met in my entire football career. He doesn’t know how to lead anything. Rudi leads because of the fear that he imposes on others. He only respects people who have power or who can be taken advantage of in the relationship,” in an interview with Maisfutebol.
Juninho went further with his comments on Rudi Garcia. He added, “He won’t dare to do anything to get in the way, on the contrary, he will even serve Cristiano breakfast if necessary. It will be a dream for him to be Ronaldo’s friend,” venting all his hard feelings towards Garcia. Many soccer fans have considered these comments from Juninho as an act of jealousy because Rudi Garcia is getting the opportunity to manage the Portuguese veteran.
Discussion about this post