Guardiola never sensed Mourinho`s potential at Barca
Barcelona boss Pep Guardiola cannot remember seeing any evidence of greatness in Jose Mourinho when the Portuguese was an assistant coach at the club in the 1990s.
|Last Updated: Apr 28, 2010, 09:08 AM IST|Source: Bureau
Barcelona: Barcelona boss Pep Guardiola cannot remember seeing any evidence of greatness in Jose Mourinho when the Portuguese was an assistant coach at the club in the 1990s.
Mourinho, a former Nou Camp translator who worked under Bobby Robson and Louis van Gaal, went on to shine as coach of Porto and Chelsea and is now in charge of Inter Milan who take a 3-1 lead into Wednesday`s Champions League semi-final second leg in Barcelona.
"If I had seen it I would have gone to the club president and said keep going with this guy because he is good," former Barca player Guardiola told a packed news conference on Tuesday.
"Maybe in the future he can come back and train at this club, why not?"
Mourinho led Porto to the Champions League title in 2004 before winning two Premier League crowns at Chelsea and Serie A with Inter last season.
The Portuguese got the better of rival Guardiola in last week`s first leg at the San Siro, his players tirelessly pursuing their opponents and breaking up their fluid passing game.
Guardiola said Barca would remain true to their roots on Wednesday when he expects a boisterous full house at the 100,000-capacity Nou Camp.
"Get the ball, move it around, attack as much as possible -- that`s what we`ll try to do," the 39-year-old former Spain midfielder said.
"We have to control a little bit more the possession of the ball than in the first leg. All we are trying to do is play in a way so that people who love football will be happy.”
"We`ll try and come here tomorrow and play the best football possible to eliminate one of the best teams in Europe," added Guardiola.
The Barca coach rarely gives much away about his starting lineups but was prepared to reveal one thing about Wednesday`s team: Champions League and La Liga top scorer Lionel Messi will be in the side.
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