Guardiola, a former Barça player and supervisor, always receives a reverent welcome in the club’s supporters, plus Wednesday was the same as his City side faced the particular Blaugrana in a charity match.
Both managers embraced one another before and after the match — an amicable energy that leaking into the crowd as excited fans originated from all over the world to see the “Xavi versus Pep” debut and watch the Euro giants in a pleasant clash.
Sharing a pitch is nothing a new comer to Guardiola and Xavi, who first played together as teammates in 1998 when Xavi joined Barcelona’s senior squad.
Ten years later, they reunited with Guardiola as head coach on the sidelines and Xavi as captain associated with Barcelona, and now these people enter a new period by assuming exactly the same vantage point, side-by-side but from opposing coaching boxes.
“It’s like old-school Barça meets new-school Barça, ” lifelong lover and Barcelona citizen Ciprian Adrián informed CNN Sport as he looked straight down at both teams warming up.
“We love Pep after all he is done for the golf club and, of course , have got always wanted him to come back. But Xavi has been really good intended for Barcelona. ”
Xavi was appointed as Barça manager last year and has overseen an upturn in results, although the start of this season has been overshadowed by club’s financial problems off the field and a disappointing 0-0 draw against Rayo Vallecano at home.
More than a supervisor
Xavi and Guardiola made football background together when they curated Barcelona’s “golden era” between 2008 plus 2012, including successful the club’s very first treble and 2 Champions League game titles under Guardiola’s management.
Since his departure, the team has had six full time supervisors, one interim supervisor, and faced hardships both on the industry and in the boardroom — to the point exactly where many fans had been clamoring for Guardiola’s return.
What they got instead in Xavi had been an emerging coach with lots of potential to change the club’s prospects.
The 2 Catalans grew up playing at Barcelona’s youngsters academy, La Masía, and adopted the particular football philosophy founded by club icon Johan Cruyff. They each anchored the field as central midfielders, commanding the creative plus tactical flow of every game, using ownership as the key ingredient for their playing technique and coaching methodology.
Xavi established himself as one of the best midfielders of all time simply by combining Barcelona’s tiki-taka style with his very own play-making vision plus ability to find area on and off the ball.
As a player, he or she embodied Barcelona’s mes la cual un club (“more than the usual club”) ethos, which week’s charity match is evidence which he has the same priorities as a manager as well.
The proceeds of the match up on August twenty-four went to supporting amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) — more commonly generally known as Lou Gehrig’s illness — research on behalf of former Barcelona goalkeeper Juan Carlos Unzué, who served because Guardiola’s assistant coach during part of the golden era and was diagnosed with ALS 2 yrs ago.
It’s uncommon for a friendly go with to take place just weeks after the start of the European season, but for each Xavi and Guardiola, the cause was near to their hearts and reverberated within the Barcelona family.
Unzué accepted the field in his wheelchair, flanked by the beginning lineups of each teams, and made an honorary kick-off to a burst of applause and cheers from the crowd as well as the players.
He invested the match since honorary assistant trainer to Xavi plus later accompanied Xavi and Guardiola towards the post-match press meeting, where all three reiterated their assistance for the fight against WIE.
Pleasing the audience
The match by itself left no fan wanting — the 3-3 draw in which usually both coaches experimented with their lineups plus made more alternatives than fans can keep track of.
City opened the particular scoring after a goalkeeper error from Iñaki Peña allowed Argentine striker Julián Alvarez to tap the ball into the objective, but Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang quickly equalized having a beautiful, one-touch volley from an disrupted free-kick outside the box.
The quick scoring continued to and fro, with Barça’s Frenkie de Jong placing the second goal aside in the 66th moment, only to have City’s Cole Palmer rating four minutes later on.
The ultimate goals of the night were from Memphis Depay after an excellent grounded cross from Sergi Roberto, then a penalty kick taken in added time simply by Riyad Mahrez.
The match up, though friendly plus fun, proved to be competing enough for the followers.
Anton Rinas is a Barcelona fan and German born host of Youtube . com channel ViscaBarca. He follows the group and covers their own matches on his route and said this individual thinks Xavi is definitely putting to rest any doubts individuals had about your pet joining as head coach too soon.
“Xavi said he learned almost anything from Pep, and Pep said he’s super convinced that Xavi will be a great coach, ” Rinas told CNN Sports activity.
Looking into the future, Rinas remarked that the 2 coaches know each other so well it’s far guaranteed to be an incredible duel every time their particular sides face each other.
Could friendly was the ideal warm up for after that be an exciting future watching the two managers go head-to-head, Rinas shared the emotions of many fans about the ultimate goal.
“This complement is nice, yet I hope we face each other in the Winners League, ” this individual said.