Pep Guardiola is not short of a taste of what awaits him at the Estadio Santiago Bernabéu on Wednesday. When the spectacular semi-final first leg between Manchester City and Real Madrid (4: 3) was coming to an end a week ago, the block was the Madridistas to hear a dark insult that has often been thrown at him in the past.
Madrid fans insulted the mother of Manchester City’s Catalan coach, echoing what supporters of Real Madrid’s city rivals Atlético had roared in the quarter-finals. In the Metropolitano, Atlético’s stadium, Guardiola acknowledged the chorus with ironic applause. Not in Manchester. His thoughts stuck to an enchanting game until the last few seconds. But that doesn’t mean he didn’t register it. On the contrary.
“This game is the best exam for the final,” said Guardiola
Guardiola and Madrid, that has been an issue in itself for years. And it doesn’t matter if he’s in a stadium wearing red and white Atlético scarves or white Real Madrid flags. This also has to do with the fact that Guardiola is an avowedly political figure – and is equally hated by the predominantly Spanish-nationalist fan camps of both clubs in the Spanish capital.
Guardiola, who won the gold medal for Spain with the national team at the 1992 Olympic Games – in Barcelona – has never hidden his support for a vote on independence for his native region of Catalonia. That alone is enough to antagonize a number of Spanish nationalists in Madrid, especially when someone is a global figure like Guardiola. When the Catalonia conflict escalated in autumn 2017, a referendum not approved by the central government in Madrid was defeated and the then head of the Catalan regional government, Carles Puigdemont, fled to exile in Belgium, Guardiola also repeatedly wore the yellow ribbon on his lapel to express his protest to illustrate against Madrid.
The topic is currently dominating the headlines of the Spanish press again, the spying on the mobile phones of Catalan separatists – by the Spanish secret service? – is a solid affair. According to reports, it is being checked whether Guardiola’s cell phone was also affected. Which would not be surprising. But this political component is just another element of the dislike that Guardiola feels, which is of course mainly based on the rivalry between Guardiola’s youth club FC Barcelona and Real Madrid.
Since Guardiola has been a coach, the dislike has deepened Madridistas against him; also because Guardiola was extremely successful in nine appearances with three different teams – FC Barcelona, FC Bayern and Manchester City. He won six times, drew twice and lost only once, in the 2013/2014 Champions League semifinals with FC Bayern (0-1).
That doesn’t even begin to lessen Guardiola’s respect for the Estadio Bernabéu: “This game is a big test and a big blessing. It’s the best exam for the final,” said the Catalan on Tuesday. Will his team Manchester City have to put on a similarly brilliant game to convert the 4-3 win in the first leg into a ticket to the final in Paris (28 May)? “It could also be that we play a lot worse and win,” said Guardiola, raising his eyebrows – albeit not quite as skillfully as his Madrid colleague Carlo Ancelotti, whom he showered with praise.
Mourinho and Madrid: Guardiola shares a heartfelt dislike with both. He admires Ancelotti
He wasn’t able to develop such a friendly relationship with every colleague from Madrid as he did with Ancelotti. However, there were only real scandals with José Mourinho, that was a good decade ago. Unforgotten how they attacked each other with poisoned darts in the press room: here Mourinho with his insinuation that Barça is preferred as a UNICEF advertising medium by the referees of the European football association Uefa; there, Guardiola’s bitingly ironic responses. He also didn’t forget to take on the media, what he called Madrid’s “dairy”. A hurtful metaphor, with which he wanted to convey that a number of journalists in Spain’s capital are white as milk – and the Madrid jerseys.
At the moment, the atmosphere between Guardiola and the newspapers, radio and TV stations in Madrid is back to zero. Some time ago, Guardiola revealed himself as a supporter of British sportswriters because they would not try to sow discord (which could probably be easily refuted).
So be it: On Tuesday, the press conference with questions from Madrid journalists revolved around the surprising question in connection with a Champions League semi-final, whether Atlético Madrid should stand guard or not when the newly crowned champions Real Madrid appear in the league at the weekend – which is a big political issue in Spanish football – and whether City might want to stand up for Real Madrid themselves on Wednesday. “Congratulations on behalf of Manchester City,” said Guardiola.
He did so with a smile that he obviously had to wrestle from himself. But that was an improvement on the previous week. After the first leg in Manchester, he was so abrupt in the obligatory interviews with Spanish media that he was openly asked why he was so scathing and scratchy. “I scratchy?” asked Guardiola with mock indignation. But he was really snappy. The reason: Guardiola apparently blames the Madrid media for damaging his relationship with Atlético coach Diego Simeone. Guardiola had put the word “prehistory” in his mouth when he was pondering Atlético’s defensive style of play, Simeone was offended afterwards, he heated up the atmosphere in the stadium against City and Guardiola with gestures and later scolded his colleagues. Such a thing will hardly happen to Guardiola with Ancelotti. “He’s not just a great coach, he’s a wonderful person,” said Guardiola.
