Pep Guardiola Needs to Beat Barcelona to Confirm the Dominance of His Methods

Some interesting things happened the last time Pep Guardiola managed a visiting team at the Camp Nou.

Barcelona had less of the ball than the opposition—then just the second time in 442 games that that had happened—while Bayern Munich, Guardiola’s team, failed to register a shot on target. And the Catalans’ decisive goal in the 77th minute, the first in a 3-0 win, came after his goalkeeper had tried to play out from the back and given the ball away.

It was as if everything he thought he had known during his spell as Barcelona’s most successful coach had first turned cold on him and then turned his own fortunes to ashes.

Possession football had failed in the face of Barca’s quick turnovers, and the proficiency at the back which was—and still is—at the beating heart of his mantra had been exposed for the risky, delicate business it can be. It was as though everything had changed, but Guardiola had just changed the same.

This is not a tactical appraisal of how his Bayern approached the 2015 Champions League semi-final at the Camp Nou, though.

He was criticised at the time for playing only three defenders against what was then the strongest front three in world football, but in truth going man-to-man in this way wasn’t what did for Bayern that night.

The intense, high pressing of Barca’s full-backs—Dani Alves on the right and Jordi Alba on the left—shut down the flanks that had become the linchpin of Bayern’s fluency in attack over the course of Guardiola’s second season in charge; in failing to find the necessary space, his team eventually ran out of steam. It was a tactical defeat, but no-one could have accused him of having stood still tactically.

Barcelona and Guardiola had each changed since parting company in 2012. Both had become more direct in their approach, adapting to alterations in personnel. Both were now happy to let the ball work harder. Three years of evolution and change later, Barca came out on top, and the score would suggest by some distance.

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The truth is that Bayern were played off the park that night, despite the possession stats leaning slightly in their favour. Guardiola’s recalibrated approach had been unmeshed by a team that played to its strengths every bit as much as the Barcelona side that had won him three La Liga titles and two Champions Leagues, albeit …

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