Bayern Munich manager Pep Guardiola, left, and Barcelona coach Luis Enrique won titles together as Barca teammates and have climbed the coaching ranks in a similar rapid progression. Wednesday night’s meeting will be their first in opposing dug-outs. Frank Augstein / AP Photo; Lluis Gene / AFP
Bayern Munich manager Pep Guardiola, left, and Barcelona coach Luis Enrique won titles together as Barca teammates and have climbed the coaching ranks in a similar rapid progression. Wednesday night’s meeting will be their first in opposing dug-outs. Frank Augstein / AP Photo; Lluis Gene / AFP
Bayern Munich manager Pep Guardiola, left, and Barcelona coach Luis Enrique won titles together as Barca teammates and have climbed the coaching ranks in a similar rapid progression. Wednesday night’s meeting will be their first in opposing dug-outs. Frank Augstein / AP Photo; Lluis Gene / AFP
Bayern Munich manager Pep Guardiola, left, and Barcelona coach Luis Enrique won titles together as Barca teammates and have climbed the coaching ranks in a similar rapid progression. Wednesday night’s

Against old friend, Luis Enrique can show Barcelona have exorcised Pep Guardiola ghost


Andy Mitten
  • English
  • Arabic

January 2000 saw Barcelona in crisis with the club's most talented player, Rivaldo, at war with the coach Louis van Gaal.

The fans had turned against the Dutchman and were singing “Van Gaal Out” and even Rivaldo’s five-year-old son, Rivaldinho, mimicked the chants of the crowd as he came into the dressing room after a game.

Club captain Pep Guardiola was also out of favour with Van Gaal and was dropped for two months by a coach not afraid to upset the dressing-room heavyweights.

Another, Luis Enrique, also found himself sidelined while star striker Patrick Kluivert was twice dropped for criticising his coach’s tactics.

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“The trainer I learnt most from about the field of play was Van Gaal, even though he’s the one I’ve had the most confrontations with, well, disagreements,” Enrique said in 2013.

“He’s got an obsession with work ethic, the way he plans. Maybe I preferred a lighter style to his.”

Enrique took a lot from Van Gaal, Guardiola, too. Van Gaal stripped out all but five players from Bobby Robson’s Barca side, which won three trophies in 1997.

Those retained players included Guardiola and Enrique, not that they necessarily started.

On several occasions, both were deemed good enough for Spain’s national team but not Barcelona.

But both will be remembered as brilliant players in a frequently brilliant Barcelona team.

They watched and learnt, then they wanted to be coaches, too.

When they did, they set about replicating and improving on what they had learnt.

“The level Guardiola’s team reached has never been reached before,” said Enrique in 2013. “They reached such a level that all the other teams have to drop back and defend.

“They have 65-70 per cent of the ball. Maybe [Arrigo] Sacchi’s Milan are the only team who have come close to them, but even they can’t compare.”

Enrique and Guardiola are long-standing friends and when the Uefa Champions League semi-final paired Enrique's Barca against Guardiola's Bayern Munich Enrique said of his former teammate: "He's the best coach in the world, for what he has won, how he has adapted to a new country, and because he's my friend."

The pair are both 44 and began life in management at Barca B, with Guardiola in charge for a season, in 2007/08, and Enrique replacing him.

Having played under great coaches such as Robson and Van Gaal, both of whom were ably assisted by Jose Mourinho, both have thrived in management as they did on the pitch as players.

Guardiola has been hugely successful and won the treble of Primera Liga, Copa del Rey and Champions League in his first season as Barca coach, while Enrique is on the cusp of the same achievement, but must overcome Guardiola’s Bayern first.

Though one is Catalan and the other Asturian – although Enrique is married to a Catalan and a long-time Barcelona resident – the pair share the same traits.

They adopt similar strategies with the media by rarely granting one-on-one interviews.

Behind the scenes they are emotional, intelligent, driven and passionate.

As players, Guardiola was seen as the elegant playmaker, Enrique the energetic lungs of the team who flew into tackles.

It was Guardiola, though who was sent off eight times at Barca, more than any other player in the club’s history. Not one of those dismissals was for a foul, but always for protesting.

The pair come head-to-head as rival coaches for the first time on Wednesday evening.

For Enrique it is a chance to show that Barca have exorcised the ghost of Guardiola.

For lifelong Barca fan Guardiola, it is a chance to show he is still the top dog, even though he will risk upsetting all his Barca-supporting friends and family, as well as his old friend, Luis.

sports@thenational.ae

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PROFILE OF SWVL

Started: April 2017

Founders: Mostafa Kandil, Ahmed Sabbah and Mahmoud Nouh

Based: Cairo, Egypt

Sector: transport

Size: 450 employees

Investment: approximately $80 million

Investors include: Dubai’s Beco Capital, US’s Endeavor Catalyst, China’s MSA, Egypt’s Sawari Ventures, Sweden’s Vostok New Ventures, Property Finder CEO Michael Lahyani

Squads

India: Kohli (c), Rahul, Shaw, Agarwal, Pujara, Rahane, Vihari, Pant (wk), Ashwin, Jadeja, Kuldeep, Shami, Umesh, Siraj, Thakur

West Indies: Holder (c), Ambris, Bishoo, Brathwaite, Chase, Dowrich (wk), Gabriel, Hamilton, Hetmyer, Hope, Lewis, Paul, Powell, Roach, Warrican, Joseph

'C'mon C'mon'

Director:Mike Mills

Stars:Joaquin Phoenix, Gaby Hoffmann, Woody Norman

Rating: 4/5

SPECS

Engine: 4-litre V8 twin-turbo
Power: 630hp
Torque: 850Nm
Transmission: 8-speed Tiptronic automatic
Price: From Dh599,000
On sale: Now

Personalities on the Plate: The Lives and Minds of Animals We Eat

Barbara J King, University of Chicago Press 

Profile of Foodics

Founders: Ahmad AlZaini and Mosab AlOthmani

Based: Riyadh

Sector: Software

Employees: 150

Amount raised: $8m through seed and Series A - Series B raise ongoing

Funders: Raed Advanced Investment Co, Al-Riyadh Al Walid Investment Co, 500 Falcons, SWM Investment, AlShoaibah SPV, Faith Capital, Technology Investments Co, Savour Holding, Future Resources, Derayah Custody Co.

The Vile

Starring: Bdoor Mohammad, Jasem Alkharraz, Iman Tarik, Sarah Taibah

Director: Majid Al Ansari

Rating: 4/5

SPEC%20SHEET%3A%20SAMSUNG%20GALAXY%20Z%20FOLD5
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FROM%20THE%20ASHES
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F1 The Movie

Starring: Brad Pitt, Damson Idris, Kerry Condon, Javier Bardem

Director: Joseph Kosinski

Rating: 4/5

'Skin'

Dir: Guy Nattiv

Starring: Jamie Bell, Danielle McDonald, Bill Camp, Vera Farmiga

Rating: 3.5/5 stars

Lexus LX700h specs

Engine: 3.4-litre twin-turbo V6 plus supplementary electric motor

Power: 464hp at 5,200rpm

Torque: 790Nm from 2,000-3,600rpm

Transmission: 10-speed auto

Fuel consumption: 11.7L/100km

On sale: Now

Price: From Dh590,000

Conflict, drought, famine

Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.

Band Aid

Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.

The burning issue

The internal combustion engine is facing a watershed moment – major manufacturer Volvo is to stop producing petroleum-powered vehicles by 2021 and countries in Europe, including the UK, have vowed to ban their sale before 2040. The National takes a look at the story of one of the most successful technologies of the last 100 years and how it has impacted life in the UAE. 

Read part four: an affection for classic cars lives on

Read part three: the age of the electric vehicle begins

Read part two: how climate change drove the race for an alternative 

The five pillars of Islam

1. Fasting 

2. Prayer 

3. Hajj 

4. Shahada 

5. Zakat 

 

 

The specs
 
Engine: 3.0-litre six-cylinder turbo
Power: 398hp from 5,250rpm
Torque: 580Nm at 1,900-4,800rpm
Transmission: Eight-speed auto
Fuel economy, combined: 6.5L/100km
On sale: December
Price: From Dh330,000 (estimate)
How being social media savvy can improve your well being

Next time when procastinating online remember that you can save thousands on paying for a personal trainer and a gym membership simply by watching YouTube videos and keeping up with the latest health tips and trends.

As social media apps are becoming more and more consumed by health experts and nutritionists who are using it to awareness and encourage patients to engage in physical activity.

Elizabeth Watson, a personal trainer from Stay Fit gym in Abu Dhabi suggests that “individuals can use social media as a means of keeping fit, there are a lot of great exercises you can do and train from experts at home just by watching videos on YouTube”.

Norlyn Torrena, a clinical nutritionist from Burjeel Hospital advises her clients to be more technologically active “most of my clients are so engaged with their phones that I advise them to download applications that offer health related services”.

Torrena said that “most people believe that dieting and keeping fit is boring”.

However, by using social media apps keeping fit means that people are “modern and are kept up to date with the latest heath tips and trends”.

“It can be a guide to a healthy lifestyle and exercise if used in the correct way, so I really encourage my clients to download health applications” said Mrs Torrena.

People can also connect with each other and exchange “tips and notes, it’s extremely healthy and fun”.

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Jetour T1 specs

Engine: 2-litre turbocharged

Power: 254hp

Torque: 390Nm

Price: From Dh126,000

Available: Now

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