As well as leading Argentina to World Cup glory as coach in 1978, César Luis Menotti led FC Barcelona during the 1983-1984 season, and several other top clubs throughout his career, including River Plate, Boca Juniors and Santos FC. Menotti recently sat with El País to harp on the beauty of Guardiola’s game, Argentina’s aggression toward Messi and the sea of Mourinhos in the modern game. Read on for the conclusion of a truly epic interview.

The following is a translation from an article from El País. The original article can be found here. Part I can be found here.

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Other than leading Argentina to World Cup glory as coach in 1978, César Luis Menotti led FC Barcelona during the 1983-1984 season, and several other top clubs throughout his career, including River Plate, Boca Juniors and Santos FC. Menotti recently sat with El País to talk about the beauty of Guardiola’s game, Argentina’s aggression toward Messi and the sea of Mourinhos in the modern game. Read on for a truly epic interview.

The following is a translation from an article from El País. The original article can be found here.

Born in Rosario in 1938, El Flaco “Skinny,” is one of the great oracles of football. Here he talks about the Copa América, his national team’s current game plan and the style of Guardiola’s Barça and Madrid under Mourinho.

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“I won my 4 clasicos as a coach? No, WE won them.”

Josep Guardiola, speaking at a press conference on November 28th, 2010.

After the win (0-2) yesterday in the season’s first Copa del Rey match for FC Barcelona, a number of players along with coach Josep Guardiola reflected on the game and the team’s performance. Their reactions can be found after the jump.

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Speaking to the press after the game, there were many similarities between the statements of coach Pep Guardiola and several members of the first team. With many questions surrounding the missed scoring opportunities, one and all assured that patience would be rewarded on this front, with goals flowing more freely in the near future. Find the compiled statements after the jump!  

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As Barcelona’s official site reports, the team has held their final training session at Camp Nou this Sunday morning behind closed doors. Sixteen first team players plus B team players Thiago and Nolito took part. Unavailable for the match against Mallorca are Villa, suspended, and Xavi and Adriano, injured.

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Dmytro Chygrynskiy recently sat down for an interview with Spanish sports paper Sport where he discussed a number of things, including how his season at Barcelona changed him as a player while also revealing how his transfer to Shakhtar came about.

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Pep Guardiola knows that if the club doesn’t sign a replacement for Toure, Barcelona B and Spanish Youth International midfielder Oriol Romeu (18) will not fail him. In a recent interview with Catalan sporting daily Sport, the player discussed his chances of playing with the first team and the upcoming season for Barcelona B. 

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Swedish striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic offered a press conference before Barça’s first pre-season game against Norwegian team Valerenga in Oslo, where he talked about his expectations for the coming season in Barcelona.

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Belarusian midfielder Aleksandar Hleb is not part of Guardiola’s plans for next season, but the player doesn’t want to go on loan to another club again after last year’s campaign at German club Stuttgart.

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Pep Guardiola has thrown all his weight behind Messi to answer the critics who had begun to doubt the abilities of “La Pulga” after just one poor performance for Barcelona at the Mestalla. In a press conference yesterday, the coach had a special mention of Lionel Messi and the debate that has arisen about his fitness, after the criticism he received while playing for Argentina and the weak performance that was shown on Saturday at the Mestalla.

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Josep Guardiola is set to achieve another personal milestone in his managerial career by leading the senior team of FC Barcelona against Rubin Kazan in what would be his 75th competitive match. A short review of his time on the Barca bench follows after the jump.

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Catalan daily Sport carries a news article today about how Pep Guardiola has ensured that the dressing room stays insulated from all non-footballing controversies at the club. It mentions how Guardiola has, since day one, made efforts to keep the locker room separated from the Board room.

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In the post-match press conference after the solitary goal win against Almeria last night, Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola, acknowledged that he was surprised by his counterpart Hugo Sanchez’s approach of individual man-marking of Xavi and Iniesta but believes his team can overcome these tactics.

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PART 2

In a pre-match press conference today, Catalan paper Sport reported that Guardiola gave a few warnings about the rival tomorrow (read today), Almeria.

Asked about his team, Pep Guardiola defended the team’s performance and denied the troubles they faced during last Tuesday’s Champions League match against Dynamo Kiev. He said it was due to a lack of concentration.

“ On the contrary, I was pleasantly surprised. It says a lot about the team’s competitive nature.  When they win, they are satisfied and when they lose, they get annoyed. And if they win by a small margin, they are not happy either. I have no complains”, he insisted.

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El Mundo Deportivo today covered a story about the opinion of other players on the contract negotiations between the club and their captain Puyol.

If it was the admiration that he gets in the dressing room determines his contract, then he would already have renewed. The coach, Pep Guardiola, has made it clear that Puyol will play an important part in the future of Barcelona, if he wants to.

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PART 1

In a pre-match press conference today, Guardiola gave few warnings about the rival tomorrow, Almeria.

“If we do not play positionally well against Almeria (tomorrow), with Piatti and Crusat (leading their front), they can kill us. They are also the fifth team with the fewest goals against. They play a very rapid game plan”, Guardiola was reported to have said.

Asked about their arch nemesis Real Madrid, who faces tough rival Sevilla, he replied “We must focus on our own opponent. What counts on Sunday is if we win against Almeria. That is the only thing that worries me”.

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El Mundo Deportivo today carries an article that reviews tonight’s Barcelona vs. Dynamo Kiev  encounter, in the Champions League.

This is the first home game for the Champions of Europe, after their debut game which ended in an admirable away draw against Inter Milan, another team amongst the favourites for the european crown. They will be hosting group leader Dynamo Kiev, who defeated Russia’s Rubin Kazan in their opening day match.

A win today can give Barcelona the opportunity to top the group ,yet a bad result, without being dramatic, would place pressure on them in the remaining last four matches, if they are to secure a place in the next round.

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During yesterdays press conference before the Champions League encounter against Dynamo Kiev, Pep Guardiola had a few things to share with us. He admits that Barcelona is the “least favorite” to win the title this season, considering that in the last 20 years, no team has ever been able to achieve a back-to-back title win.

He reminded the journalists, that if the team were to get to the next round, Barcelona would have to win all their games at home, considering that they will have travel to Russia and Ukraine, where the climate is especially tough.

He also admits to be worrying about the strength of Dynamo Kiev, the reigning champion of Ukraine. Dynamo Kiev finished better than Shakhtar Donetsk in the Ukrainian Premier League, Barcelona’s European Super Cup rivals.  They are also currently sitting at the top of the group F, after FC Barcelona 0 – 0 draw against Italian giants Inter. After the return of Andriy Shevchenko, Dynamo Kiev have been playing very offensive football, with 71 scored goals in the Ukrainian Premier League, and only 19 against. That equals a goal difference of 52, which is 21 better than league runner ups from Shakhtar Donetsk.

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El Mundo Deportivo, published an article that statistically calculates Pep Guardiola’s achievements since taking over the job of FC Barcelona team.

It states by saying the proposal to bring Guardiola to coach FC Barcelona is an absolutely perfect move, and not only for filling its museum with five new trophies but with numbers too. His statistics broken down to its smallest detail, support a unique trend that is now becoming the envy of the world. In 70 matches, he has only lost 7 of them. The 63 matches that he didn’t lose is a breath-taking 90% percent statistic, making him the most successful coach in the history of FC Barcelona. The victory against Malaga at the weekend takes his victory tally to 50 matches out of 70, a 71.4% percentage point.

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Speaking to Catalan newspaper Sport, Pep Guardiola says he was delighted with the performance showed by the team against great adversities in such games as faced against Malaga and Santander. He says Malaga played a very physical game last night and admitted he was very satisfied with his players. “Let’s see how we’ll recover for Tuesday (referring to the Champion’s League tie against Dynamo Kiev)”  but says he has the confidence the team has what it takes.

The coach admits they struggled a little bit but says “in the end we solved it well”. He also thanked goal-scorer Zlatan Ibrahimovic, whom he said gives the team an important aerial edge when things don’t go well.

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