Upgraded Cosmic Team! Is Manchester City stronger than Gua's Barcelona? There's no Hardin Messi and Hardin
At 3am on Sunday, the season's Champions League final will begin, with Manchester City facing Inter for the treble, while Guardiola is expected to achieve a second treble, last at Barca, 14 years ago. So, is this blue moon enough to compare with that red and blue?
Guashuai Barça, six-time champion
Seventeen years ago, in 2008-09, which was only Pep Guardiola's first season in charge, his Barca lost 1-0 to Numancia in the season opener, but since then, it has been out of control: La Liga beat Real Madrid by 9 points, Copa del Rey final 4-1 Biba, Champions League final 2-0 defeat Manchester United and finally the treble!
Coupled with the 2009-10 Spanish Super Cup, UEFA Super Cup and Club World Cup, Barça completed an unprecedented six Trebles of 2019, and Guardiola can be said to be the pinnacle of his debut.
In the 2010-11 season, Pep once again had the opportunity to attack the treble: La Liga won by four points, beat Manchester United in the Champions League final, but lost 1-0 to Real Madrid in the Copa del Rey final.
In 2013, Pep Guardiola took charge of another European giant, Bayern, won three consecutive Bundesliga titles, and won the DFB-Pokal twice, crowning him the double of the season.
However, in the Champions League, although there are superstars such as Lewandowski, Thomas Müller, Robben, Ribery and so on, Nanda King has stopped in the final four of the Champions League for three consecutive seasons, and failed to complete the treble, which is naturally not comparable to the peak Barca.
Habaimei leads, and Gua Shi Barça is too strong
Pep Guardiola came to the Premier League to coach Manchester City in 2016, and after a short period of adaptation, he has won the league five times and achieved three consecutive Premier League titles, becoming the second manager to achieve this achievement since Alex Ferguson.
In the FA Cup final, Manchester City beat Manchester United to achieve the double, and then only the Champions League final against Inter remains, and if he wins, the manager will become the first manager in history to win the treble twice!
There is no doubt that Pep is building a second invincible "cosmic team". People naturally have curiosity and questions: who is stronger than Barça back then and Manchester City now?
From the perspective of player fame, it has to be Barca 14 years ago, after all, there are future king and GOAT Messi in the front line, Arsenal's all-time goalscorer Henry Henry, and one of Africa's greatest strikers, Eto'o. There are Ballon d'Or-level superstars Xavi and Andres Iniesta in midfield, as well as the most underrated Sergio Busquets, and Pique on the back line, who is about to win three consecutive national team titles.
More importantly, under the tutelage of Guardiola, Barca made Tiki-taka's pass-and-control football famous, leading and changing the tactical trend of the entire world football, and also allowed Pep himself to start to the altar of tacticians and world's top coaches.
Upgraded Cosmos, Gua's Manchester City Triple Crown
Today's Manchester City, in line with Barca, is still the tactical concept of pass control football, both teams average more than 60% possession per game, La Liga and Premier League the most. It's just that in a way, Guardiola has upgraded it.
The boss is no longer obsessed with controlling the game with short passes as dense as a spider's web and preventing conceding the ball by depriving opponents of the ball. He has made huge changes for the Premier League: Manchester City are faster-paced, sharper and more impactful, speed up when it's time to pick up and fight back without hesitation.
While there is no Xavi and Andres Iniesta, Manchester City have De Bruyne. Also the core of the midfield, he has a completely different technical style from the first two, playing wide open and preferring forward push-forward passes, which also epitomizes the difference between the two teams.
What's even more interesting is that Guardiola will finally use a high school striker! At Barca, he fell out with Ibrahimovic and let Messi play the pseudo-No.9. At Bayern, he was at odds with Lewandowski. But at Manchester City, Haaland scored 52 goals in his first season!
With the Norwegian centre-forward, the Blue Moon played more long passes, using his body as a fulcrum for De Bruyne and Gundo, whose goal in the FA Cup final illustrate, which was unthinkable for Barca that year.
Of course, who is stronger ultimately depends on grades. If Manchester City do become treble, it will definitely not be inferior to Barca 14 years ago. If you lose the Champions League final, you won't go down in history, and the red and blue team will be remembered even more.