Pep Guardiola and Luis Enrique full of mutual praise

Open, enjoyable, imaginative, spectacular. Not the normal words managers use the night before a match, but then this is not a normal match.

Not according to the men leading their teams into it, it is not. Where usually there is "fight", Luis Enrique preferred to talk about "fun".

Two managers who have shared much, from the dressing room to the dugout, and two teams who share an ideal make for the perfect match, he said. "I can't think of anything better for football fans – and if you're a Barcelona or Manchester City fan, then what more can I say?"

Quite a lot, as it turned out. Rather than rivalry, there was friendship on the eve of this game – even if the City manager did take the opportunity to settle one particular score, answering accusations that he had tried to take Barcelona players and insisting that he had not.

There is no one better to describe Pep Guardiola as a manager who will mark the modern game than Luis Enrique; there is no one better than Guardiola to celebrate Luis Enrique's success. "It's easy for me to rate my friends," the Barça manager said. Especially when he actually does.

“I’m so, so pleased things are going well for him,” Guardiola said. “I had no doubt that things would go well for him; you could see that he was special right from the start: he is direct, honest, hard-working.”

Luis Enrique insisted: “We have shared a lot as players; it is a privilege to share this game as managers now.”

They were teammates for five years and their career paths have been similar: both have been captain at the Camp Nou; both have coached the B team; both have managed the first team, where they both won a treble in their first season.

Evolution

There has been an evolution under Luis Enrique governed by the players he has: Luis Suárez and Neymar were not here under Guardiola. So much so, in fact, that the debate continues: have they lost their religion? Perhaps their puritanical streak, at least.

Yet Guardiola suggested that they now do “lots of things” better than they did under him and Luis Enrique responded swiftly when it was suggested that he does not care for possession like his predecessor.

“Yes, I give importance to the ball too,” he shot back. “And if you look at our games in 95 per cent of them we have more possession, which we want to generate chances and to defend ourselves better.

“But there are moments when you use other ideas. Tomorrow won’t be one of them: tomorrow possession is fundamental. If they have the ball, we’re weaker; if we have the ball, they’re weaker. That doesn’t necessarily mean, though, that the team who has more of the ball will win the game.”

What it does mean, the Barcelona manager believes, is that this should be a game to be enjoyed. “They will want the ball, like us. When they lose it, they will press to get it back, like us. There are two coaches with an attacking mindset. We will need a lot of imagination.

“Pep’s Barcelona was spectacular; they had a collective style based on players of talent, which sought control and sought to dominate all over the pitch. [My Barcelona]have that too but I have also tried to look for things based on my players’ individual talents to help us.

“I like both Barcelonas; we both wore the same shirt and I think fans are intelligent enough to enjoy them both,” he said. “We want people to enjoy it – something that is too often forgotten.”

When it was suggested it is easy to play good football when you have the players, Enrique leapt to Guardiola’s defence. Not least, perhaps, because he may have felt the allusion was as much to him as to his predecessor. Somehow, Guardiola’s success has been used against him, just as his has been used against Guardiola. If they both won it all, perhaps it wasn’t about them, some argue.

It is a line that Guardiola has given certain credence, particularly when he talks about Messi – asked here how he would stop the Argentinian, he laughed and replied: “I don’t know” – but it is one that his opponent here rebels against.

Turning point

“A coach’s life is that when you win, it is easy and when you lose, you’re no good, it’s all your fault. But Pep’s arrival was clearly a turning point. The team reached a much better level with him.

“And at City, he has had a clear impact already . . . Pep is my friend and I think he is the best coach around, without any doubt. I am sure he will be one of those coaches that mark the modern era. I love offensive coaches; I love coaches that think more about attacking than defending. As a football fan, I think that’s wonderful.”

Guardian Service