Former Manchester City goalkeeper Joe Hart has labelled Pep Guardiola a "genius" despite the Spaniard ending his career at the Etihad Stadium.
The Burnley stopper was part of BT Sport's punditry team for City's Champions League clash with Atalanta on Tuesday night.
Hart's time at City was ended by Guardiola after the Spaniard deemed him surplus to requirements due to his inability to play out from the back.
Hart was shipped off to Torino and West Ham on loan before moving permanently to Burnley last summer, as Claudio Bravo and then Ederson took the number one jersey.
However, despite losing his place in the squad, Hart insists there is no bad blood between the pair and labelled Guardiola as a "genius".
Speaking to BT Sport, he said: "There's no denying it, you can't question anything he has done in the game. Discussing about Champions League, the systems, the styles, the search for different perfection.
"They grind out results, they bubble their way through, Real Madrid won three on the spin without necessarily playing the best football.
"I don't know, he mostly has the ingredients to win the Champions League, he's proven that.
"I spent not a great deal of time with him but we immediately had a difference in opinion in how our careers were going to go. I was up against a superpower.
"I enjoyed working through that situation with him, he's a good man. I made it clear that football is football, let's not make this personal.
"I don't know whether that's how he works but I made it clear that's how I wanted to work the situation. He's a winner like we say, he's a genius.
"That can be a blessing and a curse, sometimes winning isn't enough. You need the numbers to back it up. I'd imagine he needs to go home and feel like his team have beaten the team, whether they've won 1-0, they need to have out-fought the team, out-manoeuvred the team and that's a lot to take on.
"He's demanding but the beauty of him are his demands have to be met or you're out. That power isn't there at a lot of teams. A lot of the guys will appreciate that if a manager isn't thought of highly you can just wait until their sacked, with this guy you're the one that is out."
