Swashbuckling final would be fitting for Guardiola and Bielsa
INITIALLY it was perfectly feasible to paint Pep Guardiola’s farewell as Barcelona manager in a positive, glowing light. The 41-year-old had chosen the right time, when he was just beginning to show the date on his sell-by tag and his magnificently crafted team was suffering from illness and injury.
The sell-by date, incidentally, was nothing to do with the fraying of his immense talent or the need for Barcelona to move on to another coach — simply the moment when a burn-out job was trying to catch another victim.
So when Guardiola moved, ahead of the game, as usual, and announced his retirement from Nou Camp duties, the fact that his last game as Barca coach was already lined up as the Copa del Rey final against an Athletic Bilbao side coached by a friend, Marcelo Bielsa, and which has achieved European renown this season for their attacking flair, all seemed in order.
Now, things are just a tad more delicate.
Since announcing his departure at the end of last month, it has emerged that Guardiola didn’t know about, wasn’t consulted over and is a tad miffed about his assistant Tito Vilanova being wedged straight into his job. Neither the club nor Vilanova thought it apt to give Guardiola the ‘heads-up’ on the subject.
Right up to this weekend, when Xavi used a press conference to try to convince the local media that ‘the relationship between Pep and Tito is excellent’, there have been tales about a freezing of the friendship which sustained Barca these last four years.
Meanwhile, Carles Puyol picked up a knee injury which has required surgery and Dani Alves damaged his shoulder sufficiently to be out for six to eight weeks. Both will miss the final in Madrid against Athletic and, with Eric Abidal still in hospital after his liver transplant, Guardiola’s last game as coach next Saturday promises to be a little ragged defensively.
Will David Villa be available for the cup final squad? He’s close but his return from a broken leg has dragged on and on sufficiently to raise questions about whether he might just be rushing back a little quickly.
All in all, it’s not the farewell which Guardiola would have planned. Not yet.
Athletic, for their part, have had an almost equally choppy few weeks. In their last five matches, including that European undressing by Atletico Madrid in Bucharest, Bielsa’s boys have conceded 11 times, scored none and registered just one draw.
HOTSEAT: Again, it’s a sad curtain call for the Basques.
Athletic were magnificent in knocking out Manchester United and Schalke 04 in the previous couple of rounds and nerveless in overcoming a Sporting Lisbon onslaught in the Europa League semi-final.
The Basque side have won a great number of admirers this season, principally because Bielsa has espoused a fluent, dangerous, attacking style. On form, they have been immensely dramatic viewing.
One player who wished not to be known told me that Bielsa had almost installed a new backbone, at least in a footballing sense. Confidence, aggression and creativity mingled with flair and self-belief.
At times they have been the closest thing Europe has to Guardiola’s Barcelona.
But what also links the two squads, sadly, is the immense physical and mental cost if you attempt to play high-tempo attacking football and ally that to aggressive pressing when the opposition has the ball.
Both teams are ending the season with players looking tired, lacking stamina, carrying niggling injuries and appearing as if they need a serious holiday — not a European Championship with Spain.
Bielsa chose to join the club on a one-year deal and, to date, hasn’t renewed. Yesterday, Javi Martinez, his brilliant midfielderturned-centre-half, admitted: ‘I’m intrigued to know what Bielsa’s future is going to be. If you in the media are desperate to find out what he’s going to do, imagine how we feel in his squad.
‘His project has seduced all of us and hearing that he’s going to stay on would be a tremendous boost — but not even his coaching staff know what he’s going to do now.’
The two sides have shown an elegance, adventure, technique and attacking flair that has made this season joyful and it is to be hoped that the Vicente Calderon stadium will vibrate to a classic final this Friday.
With Bielsa still considering his future and Guardiola deciding to take his brilliance elsewhere, we should take time to remember that such coaches are not ten a penny.