Guardiola expecting ‘special’ Barca game
Print Edition
BAYERN Munich coach Pep Guardiola said yesterday he was happy to have drawn his former club Barcelona in the Champions League semifinals and expected the clash to be a special experience for him.
The Spaniard, a long-time Barca player, won 14 trophies in a four-year spell as head coach at the Nou Camp from 2008, including two Champions League titles. Bayern midfielder Thiago Alcantara, lured to Bayern by Guardiola last season, is also a Barcelona youth product.
“Everyone understands how special this game is for me, for Thiago and my staff,” Guardiola, who joined Bayern in 2013 after taking a year out, said.
“Barcelona was our life. When you are in a semifinal then you will always face a big team. What can I say? Barcelona is my home.”
Bayern, which is chasing a repeat of its 2013 treble, is closing in on the Bundesliga title and is through to the last four of the German Cup as well. Guardiola has said a domestic double this season would not be enough for the Bavarians.
“It will be a special game. We have to analyze Barcelona,” he said, heaping praise on coach Luis Enrique, a former teammate. “Barcelona are the best team at the moment. I am not surprised. He (Luis Enrique) has a lot of quality. He is a great guy and I am happy I will be facing him.”
Barcelona last won the Champions League in 2011 under Guardiola, while Bayern claimed its fifth European crown in 2013 before the Spanish coach took charge. “Now they have brought in Neymar, (Luis) Suarez. They have a new coach,” said Guardiola. “Other than that they play still the same, with the same mentality.”
Enrique also holds his former teammate in high esteem as a coach.
“(He is the best) because he has achieved a vast number of titles, because I love the way he has done it and with an attacking football style wherever he has been,” Enrique said. “He has been able to adapt to another country and learn a new language, a very difficult language as well, and transmit what he wants.
“It will be special because it is the first time that I face Guardiola and the first that Pep faces Barca.”
In the other semifinal, defending champion Real Madrid will face Juventus, with the Italian champion playing at home first. Two-time champion Juventus is back after a 12-year absence from the semifinals, when it also faced Madrid and won. “They are having a very good season and have practically won the Italian league. That means they can focus more on the Champions League,” Real coach Carlo Ancelotti said.
The first leg in Barcelona will be played on May 6, with the return match six days later. Madrid will play in Turin on May 5 and host Juventus on May 13. The final will be played on June 6 in Berlin.
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