Mamelodi Sundowns and Bafana Bafana star, Aubrey Modiba recently commented on his coach, Rulani Mokwena and his admiration for Pep Guardiola.
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What's the story?
It's no secret that Rulani Mokwena is an admirer of Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola, with many fans referring to him as Africa's version of the trailblazing Spanish coach.
In a recent radio interview, Masandawana star Aubrey Modiba spoke responded to a question about Rulani referencing Pep, with the 28-year-old backing his coach and explaining why it's beneficial.
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Let's take a closer look...
Modiba On Rulani's love for Pep
Sundowns and Bafana's versatile baller, Aubrey Modiba sat down with Andile Ncube on Sports Night Amplified on Metro FM, to discuss Masandawana's trophy prospects and working with Rulani Mokwena.
Rulani Mokwena, who is well on his way to securing back-to-back league titles for Sundowns, mirrors Pep Guardiola in a number of tactical aspects, sharing the Spanish maestro's obsession with retaining possession among other things.
Rulani has even been referred to as "Pep-lite" from social media trolls and the 37-year-old has not shied away from the inspiration he gets from the former FC Barcelona and Bayern Munich mentor.
"Pep is someone that I follow very closely. I've got huge admiration for him. He is an incredible football coach, so successful," Rulani once told BBC Sport Africa.
From Rulani's dress sense to his obsession with details and some might point out his mannerisms, the Pep comparison is likely something the Sundowns boss is used to by now.
Modiba spoke about how much Rulani references Pep's work, adding that he sees nothing wrong the process:
"The coach that we have, he's very... he watches a lot of Man City, like I said and Pep Guardiola is his idol. So, obviously we watch those games and those videos and it helps us as players to improve," says Modiba, who also mentioned that the team tries to learn as much as they can from some of Rulani's Pep-inspired work:
"We try and learn from all those things that he says, and as a player, I have someone that idolise overseas and I don't see any problem with that. If I can navigate my play around that player, I don't see anything wrong with that because he's the best and I can learn from that player.
"As I said, he [Rulani] respects Pep Guardiola because he is the greatest. He's been doing it, he comes with new ideas, new philosophy's and he's changed football," added Modiba.
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