Ronald Koeman recalls the moment Pep Guardiola turned up to Barcelona training in his second hand Opel
Two managers enjoyed great success together during their playing days at Barcelona but now they go up against each other as managers
RONALD KOEMAN could hardly believe his eyes as the new kid in Barcelona’s ranks pulled up for training.
He stuck out a mile even back in those days.
Not for the ability which was to earn him the tag as one of the best holding midfielders of his generation.
For in a car park littered with sports cars and high performance vehicles was Pep Guardiola . . . getting out of a second hand Opel.
Hardly the sort of transport you would expect for the then-teenager who would go on to become the Rolls Royce of football managers.
But then again, that has always been Guardiola’s way. Turn up for work, get the job done and immediately focus on the next hurdle.
A sort of Paul Scholes in a Sombrero if you like.
Koeman still recalls that first day, as Guardiola took the step from Barca’s B team to the seniors. After one session it was pretty clear he was there to stay. The pair were to become good buddies, forging a friendship as strong now as when they danced at Wembley in 1992 as European Cup-winning team-mates.
But on day one they were thrown together by Nou Camp chief Johan Cruyff, who saw Koeman — the most gifted of centre-backs — as the ideal tutor to the new kid in town.
Koeman revealed: “He was young. I was the older player and of course there was a reason why Cruyff put us together in a room.
“We played close to each other in our positions in the team and Cruyff mentioned that he should learn a lot from Ronald Koeman.
“I didn’t show him how to make a cup of tea, no, but of course after one training session when he was involved in the first team you saw his qualities as a player.
“I like young players when they are still open to learn and behave normally. Not driving a Porsche after three matches in the first team.
“For Pep it was a second-hand Opel . . . stay normal and show that you like to learn as a young player. It was fantastic what he did.
“Me? I had a Mercedes, but I had already been in the first team for two years!
“Even now he is like that. He is respectful to everyone and I know he is crazy about football. He is really a nice boy.
“But even when he was young, he had his opinions. Off the pitch he was quiet but on it he was involved in football and tactics. He was really very clever about football.”
So clever, in fact, that Koeman eventually found things had turned full circle and he was the man turning to his one-time pupil for guidance.
He explained: “I used to give the advice but when I was Feyenoord coach I sent Giovanni van Bronckhorst to watch three days of Bayern Munich’s training sessions when Pep was there. You like to learn and I’ve stolen some exercises, yes!
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“So he doesn’t pick my brains any more. Now when we have dinner together we speak about nice stories from our time together at Barcelona.
“The dynamic is different. Now he’s maybe the best manager.”
Guardiola has his own memories of those hotel nights, when he was the skivvy for the senior man.
The Manchester City boss recalled: “My job was to switch off the light before we went to sleep. When he needed water, I had to wake up and get the water for him. I was the youngest so I adapted to him.”
An adaptation Guardiola had to learn on the training ground as well. At least, according to HIS boss at the Etihad, then a Barcelona team-mate of both of them, Txiki Begiristain, the City director of football.
Begiristain said: “I remember when we did mini-games with Cruyff, it always ended up with someone stepping on Pep’s feet.
“He used to get very angry, rightly so. A stamp with a football boot hurts a lot.
“It’s not that they wanted to harm him, it’s that he was so quick that when he moved the ball you’d often arrive late and ‘wham!’, you’d tread on him.
“Of course when we couldn’t get the ball off Guardiola the big guns came in the form of Ronald. Guardiola went flying and Koeman took the ball off him. Pep used to get really annoyed.
“It was quite usual and it was the club’s policy that the players who stood out in Barca’s academy trained with the first team.
“When we trained on ball possession he was always in the middle, the most difficult position. He did it perfectly, he made himself the owner of the ball. That’s the first memory I have of Pep.
“With time, he often spoke about tactical questions with the sacred cows of the team, with Zubizarreta or Ronald.
“There are players who play football and players who play and talk about football. In the dressing room there were a lot of debates and Guardiola was always there.”
Now, as Koeman acknowledges, the Catalan is the master, although both still recall the debt they owe the Dutch maestro who first put them together.
Guardiola said: “Managers don’t choose clubs, we are chosen.
“We are here when they call. We don’t call clubs and say, ‘I want to train here’.
“But Ronald has had experience working in Holland, Portugal, Spain — a tough place like Valencia. Here in England he has shown how good he is.
“Now he’s at a big club, Everton has a lot of tradition. When we see each other we don’t speak about what he or I did.
“It’s about life, families, football, remembering Barcelona. I’m sure Johan will be proud of us and looking down at the game.”