Hansi Flick’s tenure at Barcelona has not only brought immediate success, with four titles already secured – two Super Cups, one La Liga, and one Copa del Rey – but also widespread admiration for the team’s style of play. Among its most notable fans is Pep Guardiola, a coach renowned for his commitment to the beautiful, vertical, and possession-based football philosophy he honed at the Catalan club.
Guardiola recently expressed his delight with Flick’s team during an interview conducted for Esport 3, as part of a program honoring the late Johan Cruyff. “If I can watch Flick’s Barca, I sit down and watch it because you have a good time,” stated the Manchester City manager. He further elaborated on his enjoyment, drawing parallels to other leisure activities: “In the end, you go to the movies, to the theater, to read a book, to a good restaurant… What you want is to have a good time. And tell me one time that you don’t have a good time with Barca.”
Interestingly, the admiration shared between the two coaches and their teams is mutual. Flick himself has confessed to being a long-time admirer of Guardiola’s past and present teams. The German coach asserts that throughout his career, he has consistently drawn inspiration from the distinct Barcelona football philosophy – the style Guardiola embodied as a player and later masterfully deployed as a coach at Camp Nou, before exporting it successfully to Germany and England.
