Before this Wednesday's crucial meeting in the Champions League (9 p.m.), the two coaches from Paris and Manchester City have continued to send each other flowers. It must be said that their common background and their ideas bring them together, despite the immense stakes of the match.
This time, Luis Enrique did not puff out his chest. He agreed to say it: Pep Guardiola is – in his eyes – the one who was at the forefront of Barcelona's style of play. “For me, it was he who brought Barça's 4-3-3 to perfection, who made it the most perfect model. He is a unique coach, who innovated. I am lucky to “to be his friend, to have been his teammate”, said the PSG coach.
Far from his response last season about Xavi, then coach of Barça who was going to face Paris. Luis Enrique had clearly said that he himself represented the Barcelona style better than the former Catalan coach. But there is no question of having the same attitude with “Pep”. And this is not surprising: Luis Enrique has deep respect for the man he met at the 1992 Olympic Games with Spain, before sharing the same Blaugranas colors then those of the A selection, until 2001. All in all, they played 148 matches together. “There has always been a lot of harmony between them,” confirms Miguel-Angel Lara, journalist at Marca.
The same idea of football
Because the two men therefore share the same love for Barcelona, because they have always gotten along well, and because they have the same vision of football. “What brings us together is our idea of football,” confirms the Parisian coach. “No one is going to doubt our common idea of depriving the opponent of the ball, of continually pressing. There are nuances, of course, we each refine our model, but the initial idea is very similar.”
-Two men inspired by Catalan football, trained as technicians in Barcelona. The Asturian, when he took over from Guardiola at Barça from 2014 to 2017, in fact made him evolve with the same ideas of play. The two men also share their taste for tactical surprises and inventions in the team compositions. “They are two coaches who are very interventionist in their teams’ matches. They both put their idea of the game above all else,” adds Miguel-Angel Lara. “It's the player who has to adapt to it. They build teams around their way of approaching the game. In the differences, I think Guardiola is less fond of dizziness than Luis Enrique. For Pep, for example, if the goalkeeper is important to get the ball out, for Lucho he is essential, taking extreme risks.”
“Luis Enrique always puts Guardiola as a reference”
But ultimately, who inspired who? “Luis Enrique always puts Guardiola as a reference. 'If Pep says or does something, it's like that'”, dares Miguel-Angel Lara. Surely also because their human relationship is always intense: during the death of Luis Enrique's daughter, Guardiola wore a black armband in tribute to her.
He declared his love for him, again, and in another way this Tuesday: “I love everything about Luis Enrique, his way of playing. We can always criticize the absence of No. 9… But that remains one of the best teams, Luis, in his job, has always been better than anyone else. We know that we have to accept criticism, it's part of the job. saw this season, I love it Apart from the connection with. Luis, our families are very close, we are very close, I love him, he loves us. Even regarding the statistics as coach so far… The two technicians have crossed paths four times. At the moment there are two everywhere.
