Zidane and Guardiola have never faced each other at the highest level. A record provided on both sides, an aura around the world, special contexts, this round of 16 is also a match in the match between the two headliners. A shock that smells of the most prestigious of competitions.
The news fell like a blast in the north of England on February 14th. Due to non-compliance with the rules of financial fair play, Manchester City is prohibited from participating in the next two editions of the Champions League. If the hypothesis of a talent drain was quickly swept internally, the blue-sky gave way to the greyness above the Etihad Stadium. While the club is dropped in the Premier League by Liverpool, the Champions League has all the thinning.
The last opportunity to raise the Cup with big ears with City?
Pep Guardiola is linked to Manchester City until the end of next season. But more than by contract, the Catalan is attached to his club. "What is important is that I never regretted a single second to have come here, or to have extended there," he insisted before the match against Leicester in the league on Saturday (1-0 victory). While it has still not won the Champions League with a club other than Barça (2009, 2011), this current campaign has the appearance of a last chance to win it elsewhere than in Catalonia. With Manchester City at least, because the Spanish technician knows he is coveted elsewhere. Andrea Agnelli, president of Juventus, illustrated this in the columns of the Gazzetta dello Sport on Tuesday: "Not thinking about Guardiola would be heresy." But Guardiola has repeatedly repeated his intention to stay in England in recent days.
He and his men also want to wash away the affronts of years gone by. Eliminated in the quarterfinals after a twists and turns against Tottenham (0-1, 4-3) last year, it was already another English rival Liverpool who was right about the continental ambitions of the "Skyblues" the year before. Not to mention Monaco during the first season of Guardiola at the club. This campaign is therefore of particular importance for the Spanish. "If we did not win it in my last period here, then I would have failed here," he recalled in a burst of lucidity that is reminiscent of his Madrid counterpart.
Zidane wants to wash away the previous affront and reconnect with its glorious past
Real Madrid's stoppage on Saturday at Levante (1-0) fell at the worst of times for Zinedine Zidane and his gang. At the time of facing a team that should bet everything on the competition, Real knew better preparation after the draw at home against Celta Vigo (2-2) the week before. Add to that the injury of Eden Hazard and it is the specter of a new white season in terms of major titles which resurfaces. If Real are far from being as far behind in the league (2 points behind Barça) as their opponent, the club is nevertheless already eliminated in the national cup. The Champions League is therefore of capital importance for Zidane, whose status has never been called into question since his return to the Merengue bench almost a year ago. But the intoxicating scent of the most prestigious of competitions sublimates it, the three consecutive titles (from 2016 to 2018) go in this direction. "It is not lucky to win the Champions League as many times, some have the recipe, have this culture of winning," attested Raheem Sterling in the columns of AS this weekend. It was he who put Real Madrid back in the center, on top of European football. It is he who wants to wash away the affront of the humiliation suffered at home in the round of 16 last season against Ajax (1-4). Orphaned by Cristiano Ronaldo for two years, the task may seem less easy for "ZZ", but it's been a long time since he has made the Champions League his favorite playground.
A mutual admiration
"I admire him and it's really good to have these kind of people in world football" declared Pep Guardiola last December about Zinédine Zidane, a player with whom he always "dreamed of playing." When Zidane the player was highlighted by the Spaniard, Zidane the coach flattered the ego of his counterpart on the City bench at the sight of the draw in December, ensuring to consider him as "the best technician in the world. " The two men, for whom the only confrontation dates back to the summer of 2017 and a match in the most prestigious of friendly competitions (International Champions Cup, City 4-1 victory), are about to stop competing for the first time at the highest level, and leave their shared admiration aside. For Pep Guardiola, it is also an opportunity to return to a Santiago Bernabeu stadium where he has the status of hated rival while his Barça left too few crumbs for the Madrid enemy. The opportunity to sign a triumphant return?
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