“Barcelona to play canny game against admired rivals (Reuters via Yahoo! Sports)” plus 1 more |
| Barcelona to play canny game against admired rivals (Reuters via Yahoo! Sports) Posted: 30 Mar 2010 12:03 PM PDT By Kevin Fylan LONDON, March 30 (Reuters) - A shared footballing philosophy does not guarantee a classic when Barcelona meet Arsenal in the Champions League on Wednesday, with the visitors likely to take a more pragmatic approach than their reputation may suggest. Barca coach Pep Guardiola spoke on the eve of the quarter-final first leg with his usual enthusiasm about Arsene Wenger's achievements during his long tenure in the Arsenal job. Guardiola sounded perfectly genuine as he envisaged a spectacle worthy of the reputations of two clubs renowned for attacking football played with pace and guile. As usual, however, the devil was in the detail. The 39-year-old Catalan, who masterminded Barcelona's European Cup success in his first season in charge, is not about to sacrifice the trophy in the pursuit of pure football. "We will try to provide a good spectacle for the whole of Europe, against a team that has for years provided an example of how you can play good football," the softly-spoken coach told reporters. "Mr Wenger is one of the best coaches in the world, someone who has changed the culture of his club. Everyone admires Arsenal and their style. It is an honour to play against them." Asked for specifics on how Barcelona would approach the game, the coach gave what could turn out to be a better clue. "We will have to be extremely alert, and to play closer together," he warned. "We need to be solid and compact when we don't have the ball." Of course, Barcelona would seek an away goal, he said, only to add: "You cannot attack well if you don't defend well." SMART PLAYER The big problem for Guardiola heading into the game is that influential midfielder Andre Iniesta is missing. "He's a huge player for us," the coach said. "He's very important—someone who can play in different positions, is good one-on-one and a smart player who keeps the ball better than anyone." Otherwise, Guardiola has few concerns. Lionel Messi is in a state of grace, as the Spanish say, and his biggest problem may be whether to give former Arsenal forward Thierry Henry a place in the forward line with the Argentine and Zlatan Ibrahimovic. Arsenal also have an injury concern over Cesc Fabregas and while Guardiola is full of admiration for a player who came through the Barcelona youth set-up, and looked up to the current coach as a major inspiration, he knows Arsenal are far from reliant on the dynamic young midfielder. "I assume they are a better player with him," Guardiola said. "But remember, they beat Porto 5-0 without him." (Editing by Ed Osmond. To query or comment on this story email sportsfeedback@thomsonreuters.com) Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction. |
| The Pep Guardiola philosophy that spells danger for Wenger (Evening Standard) Posted: 30 Mar 2010 07:13 AM PDT In football management, the good have tended to start young. Sir Alex Ferguson won his first Scottish Premier League with Aberdeen in 1980 when he was just 39; Giovanni Trapattoni won his first Scudetto with Juventus aged 38, while Arsene Wenger was also 38 when, in 1988, he led Monaco to the French title. After winning the Champions League last May, Barcelona coach Josep Pep' Guardiola also joined that list. Last season, he steered the club that he once captained to the Spanish League title, aged 38. But before he turned 39, Guardiola had also lifted the Spanish Cup, the Champions League, the Spanish Supercup, the European Super Cup and the Club World Cup. Ferguson had been managing for six seasons, though, before claiming his first prize, Trappatoni for five and Arsenal's French genius had seven seasons of experience under his belt prior to upsetting the French applecart with Monaco. Guardiola had been coaching for precisely 12 months when he took over a wounded, torpid and apparently spent Barca squad and turned everything on its head. Whether it was the remarkable drama of their Champions League semi-final win at Stamford Bridge last season, the scintillating 6-2 destruction of Real Madrid at the Bernabeu or the fact that by last month Guardiola's team had played 100 matches, won 71, lost only 10 and scored 242 times, the world fell in love with what this young man has achieved. Zlatan Ibrahimovic told me that he left Inter and moved to Spain because: "Barca produces football which the world will love to play in 2015 and 2020 — they show the future." Now, ahead of Wednesday's enormously important and attractive Champions League quarter-final at Emirates Stadium, the eulogies are still flying at this elegant, articulate but hugely driven man. At the weekend, Wenger was part of a jury, which included Ottmar Hitzfeld, Vicente del Bosque, Didier Deschamps and Marcello Lippi for the Journal de Dimanche Coach of the Year' award and Guardiola won it hands down. "Winning all six trophies he played for in his first season was incredible but they included both the Champions League and the World Club trophy which few coaches manage to bring to their CV," said Lippi. "But above all, he's created a system of play which is both effective and spectacular." Guardiola has had to work hard for his achievements. The saturnine Catalan puts in the same level of preparation for every match as Jose Mourinho, who boasted of watching Inter Milan's first-leg win over Chelsea seven times. Guardiola is elegant, well-dressed and versed in poetry, politics, philosophy and fashion, while his wife, Cristina, is the daughter of a clothing and fashion scion in the Catalan capital. Indeed, Cristina is so long-suffering that the first negotiations for him to become Barca coach in May 2008 began a couple of hours after she had given birth to their third daughter, Valentina. As the doting parents were beaming down at the gurgling youngster, a knock came at the door of the hospital room and Barca president Joan Laporta interupted the celebrations. Home is very much in Barcelona, yet Guardiola had talks with Paul Jewell at Wigan, met Sir Alex Ferguson and mulled over a move to Old Trafford and even trained with Manchester City before opting to play on at Brescia after his six League titles and two European trophies as one of Barca's great midfielders before returning to take charge of the team. It is easy to understand why he was so much in demand on hearing his philosophy on the game. "Since I took the job our play has been marked by brave, attacking football," said Guardiola. "Sometimes we've been bold and, occasionally, I think we've played audaciously. "It's a philosophy of football. Win or lose I want us to show who we are and what kind of football we believe in. I want my team to go out and be themselves. "Those of us lucky enough to work at this level in our profession must never forget that it's only a sport. "We live in a world where everything is spiraling in cost and many people need to make a big sacrifice in order to go and watch a game of football. "So for me it all makes sense, the effort, the work the planning the concentration and the discipline if you do it for the people. The manner in which we play is a demonstration of the respect we have for the people who pay for a ticket or pay money to watch matches on television." The Pep philosophy is all about hard work, excellence, hunger to be the best and dressing well while you do it. He is steely, too. Ronaldinho and Deco were both kicked out when it became clear to Guardiola that they had little to contribute. Striker Samuel Eto'o, first-goal hero of that victory over Manchester United in Rome, was also shown the door. Recent criticism from the agents of Yaya Toure and Zlatan Ibrahimovic over the amount of game time their clients were receiving were met with curt response. "Keep your agents under control," he told both players. Guardiola's second season in charge has not been as trailblazing as his first, partly because of injuries to players, while his side now play a slower passing game now that Eto'o is gone to accommodate Ibrahimovic's style. There is also the internal feuding that accompanies any Spanish presidential election — Laporta will be replaced at the Nou Camp at this summer's elections. Any thoughts that this, along with Andres Iniesta's absence, will help Arsenal's cause should be short-lived. Barca are still neck and neck with Real Madrid at the top of La Liga and Guardiola's record against the Gunners is a good one. He was captain in both group games in 1999 — a 1-1 draw in Barcelona and a 4-2 win at Wembley, which was their first defeat of an English club in England for 39 years. His record against Wenger also includes 1-0 and 2-0 defeats of Monaco in the 1993 Champions League. But for all the tributes, praise and admiration just like Messrs Ferguson, Wenger, Lippi and Trappatoni, Guardiola is a winner. Fantasy football will be a by-product at Emirates Stadium on Wednesday. Winning comes first — no quarter asked or given.
Come on Gunners, show the spirit! This game will be fantastic as both teams thrive on space given by the opposition, which Arsenal will certainly give Barca and Barca will give Arsenal. The main concern for Arsenal will be getting the ball, but that may be easier without Iniesta and Xavi playing, surely the best two players at keeping posession in the world Two teams who will both try to win the game and entertain the paying crowd. Remember when most football was like that? Remember when teams tried to outplay rather than stop the opposition? Let's get the macho bullies out of the game and return football to the fans. Agreed Tony C London. Come on Barca!! As much as I want Arsenal to beat 'em. It just doesn't look likely that they will He might be some sorta deity to you but this Barca team remains very beatable more so by this Arsenal team. Over the weekend Real Mallorca needed to be slightly bolder - i saw enough to see lots of vulnerabilities in this Barca team. Add your commentFive Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction. |
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