It’s been nearly 20 years since Pep Guardiola helped Barcelona win their first European Cup title at Wembley as a young midfielder. When he returns there this week as coach of the Spanish powerhouse, it’s his unflinching belief in the style of play he learned under predecessor Johan Cruyff that has the team on the cusp of greatness once again.
Barcelona will take on Manchester United for Europe’s biggest trophy for the second time in three years tomorrow, and another victory would cement the Spanish champion’s place among the all-time great teams.
And no one is better fitted than Guardiola to guide Barcelona back to London.
The 40-year-old Guardiola was in his second season with the club and playing under Cruyff when the Catalan club won the tournament for the first time with a 1-0 victory over Sampdoria at Wembley in 1992.
After taking over as coach in 2008, he has helped the team perfect the type of attacking football that Cruyff initially implemented at the club — largely by identifying each player’s strength and how to utilize it within the system.
“He always looked at the best qualities of himself, just like with his team,” Cruyff told The Associated Press in a recent telephone interview. “The big difference with a lot of other teams is that the these types of players are not very big or strong, they are just very good footballers, they use the ball to play well. And that’s one of the things that Guardiola did so good because physically he was not strong.”
Of course, it helps to have players like Lionel Messi, Andres Iniesta and Xavi Hernandez on the team. But that same crop of talent was also there in the two seasons before Guardiola’s arrival, when the club went without a trophy.
“One of the key factors in Guardiola’s work at the Barcelona helm is being able to make things simpler. Simplifying the game is something that we really work on every day in training,” Brazil fullback Daniel Alves, one of Guardiola’s first signings, told FIFA.com. “He’s a very reasonable man, he knows the players well and knows exactly what they need.”
Guardiola knows from experience that his team’s strength is playing the Barcelona way — with strong upfield pressure to win the ball, short combination passing to keep possession, angled runs into space to create relentless attacks that often end up overwhelming the opponent.
It’s the only style that Guardiola seems to know, and no one expects him to adopt a more cautious approach against United.
“We’ll look for the things that will help us attack best. And we’ll attack from the start,” Guardiola said on Monday, before repeating his intention for emphasis. “We’ll attack, yes. Yes.”
Guardiola also promised to attack two years ago in the final in Rome and, despite a nervy start, the team kept its promise and overpowered United in a 2-0 victory.
Both Barcelona and United are looking for their fourth European Cup, which would equal Bayern Munich and Ajax as the fourth most successful club in the tournament. It would be fitting for Guardiola to match Ajax’s total, since that’s the Dutch club where Cruyff first learned his famous philosophy first as a player and then as a coach.
Complacency is Guardiola’s greatest fear, and one of the reasons why he may not extend his contract beyond 2012 when it ends. And there have been signs lately that the relentless pressure of being in charge of one of the world’s top clubs may be getting to him.
Guardiola’s future is likely to come under more speculation after Saturday’s game, when he has the chance to surpass Cruyff’s European accomplishments at the same ground where the Dutchman helped begin Barcelona’s current period of success.
“I want them to be conscious of what we are playing for,” Guardiola said. “Many of the players have won lots of things and to win, you have to do lots of things right. Their desire to be European Champions is what will mark the final.”