Back at the place where he began his education, Pep Guardiola was happy to make the point that it is far from finished.
Sitting in a familiar seat in the press auditorium at the Nou Camp, the Manchester City coach looked and sounded like a man thoroughly at home. Only the club designer outfit — retailing at more than £1,800 a throw — made him look in any way different from the years he spent here.
Guardiola is one of those lucky men who never seems to age. The quest to broaden the mind continues, though, and it will be on the touchline on Wednesday that he believes he will learn something valuable about the team he started to build in the summer.
One thing is clear. City, having dropped two points in Group C to Celtic, are here to win. They will, to simplify it, try to play like Barcelona against Barcelona. It’s a nice theory and one that the creator of the modern Barca is not at all sure will work.
‘We will try to be ourselves,’ said Guardiola. ‘I need to know some things about my team as quickly as possible. I have only been here at City a short time and I am still trying to learn about my players. This is a game that will help me.
‘I know it is difficult but our plan is to have the ball. They can’t do anything to us if they don’t have it. To change the way we play, we don’t have time. It is impossible and the players would not believe me.
‘We have to adjust because it is a special team we are playing. But we have to try to be ourselves as much as possible. So this is a good test to see what kind of moment we are in.’
Railing against the Spanish media, who he believes peddled stories from former Barcelona president Sandro Rosell that he tried to sign marquee players from his old club in the summer, he inadvertently revealed that Claudio Bravo — recruited to replace Joe Hart — was his second pick behind his old Nou Camp club mate Marc-Andre ter Stegen.
The City coach was also happy to admit that he would try to sign Lionel Messi if the Argentina superstar ever chooses to leave here. When asked how he would instruct his players to stop him, meanwhile, he merely laughed.
‘I don’t know what instruction I can give to my defenders to control that talent,’ he said.
‘Ninety minutes is a long time and it’s hard to explain to them. Barca will have their chances and they don’t need many because they are so precise. So it’s not easy. This Barcelona team can do things that mine couldn’t do. They are really good, for me the best in the world.’
‘This place is special to me,’ he said. ‘This stadium is part of my life. I grew up here from a boy and I made my career here.’
Since he left in the summer of 2012, the 45-year-old has been back, of course. Two seasons ago he was in the stands as Barcelona eased past Manuel Pellegrini’s City. As Messi nutmegged James Milner by the near touchline, Guardiola was caught on camera laughing in disbelief.
But two months later he was back as coach of a Bayern Munich team beaten 3-0 in a Champions League semi-final. He did not laugh that night.
Before he spoke here yesterday, his defender Pablo Zabaleta suggested City would attempt to dominate possession. It seems a fanciful notion. In that March 2015 defeat, City lost by only one goal but hardly saw the ball at all.
‘Manuel was the first coach who was able to reach the semi-finals with City so that is all credit to him and what he did,’ said Guardiola.
‘That certainly helps the next coach. We can’t forget that. You only become an important club when you reach that stage all the time and we are trying to do that.
‘I don’t know what Manuel did to prepare for that game you are talking about. I wasn’t at the club. But I know what I want to do. We need points from this game. We have a hard group. If we lose we are under pressure.’
Barcelona have lost twice so far in La Liga — once at home to Alaves — but beat Deportivo 4-0 at the weekend. City, meanwhile, have no win in three games in all competitions and were beaten two-and-half weeks ago by a Tottenham team employing similar high-press tactics that will confront Guardiola’s players in Spain.
Barcelona own the copyright to this style of football and Guardiola more than did his bit during his days here.
The City entourage were hardly recognisable in their on-trend travelling outfits yesterday and must produce something else we have not seen from them before if they are to leave their mark in Catalonia.
