Destiny is not fixed.
It is written.
And that's what makes the story all the more beautiful.
At the end of the 20th century, Pep Guardiola was an FC Barcelona executive, and Mikel Arteta a young shoot from La Masia, the legendary training center.
Guardiola is eleven years older than Arteta and shares the defensive midfield position with him.
He attends one of his pre-season friendly matches, before debriefing him.
"
Receiving this from someone like him, the best in this position, you can't hope to be helped by someone better
," Arteta remembered fondly at the start of the year.
To discover
Premier League fixtures and results
Premier League standings
Two decades have passed, and here they are on benches in England.
Guardiola, one of the best coaches in history, manages the juggernaut Manchester City, defending champion and current runner-up to Arsenal (which is 5 points ahead but two games more).
This Wednesday, at 9 p.m., he will receive his disciple in Manchester, Mikel Arteta who, before starting number one with the Gunners, had spent three and a half years as assistant to … Guardiola.
An evidence.
Arteta in the line of Wenger and Guardiola
Arteta ended his career at Arsenal (2010-2016), a club with which he fell in love.
"
When he was a player, he was under the orders of Arsène Wenger, it was a bit the same style of play that he is trying to put in place today
", enlightens us Robert Pirès, consultant for
Canal +
and who will be at the edge of the lawn Wednesday for the pre-match and the debrief, orchestrated by the encrypted channel.
SEE
ALSO
- Guardiola, first coach in the 10 semi
-
finals of the Champions League
“
At City, Arteta found a bit of the same football philosophy
” as under Wenger, notes Pirès, legend of the Gunners (2000-2006).
Arteta and Guardiola like "
the beautiful game
", they like to have the ball, to multiply the passes.
They like to score goals, without going on the attack.
It's not AC/DC, more Frederic Chopin.
Arteta and Guardiola, a friendship novel
Guardiola has always loved Arteta.
So much so that he encouraged him to hang up his boots earlier.
In 2012, when he left Barça, Guardiola discussed with English clubs for the future.
He takes the pulse with Arteta, whom he already wants as an assistant.
"
I told him: 'I'm still playing, you know! It's a bit early'
", smiled Arteta at a press conference two months ago.
They waited until 2016 to finally collaborate.
The youngest was hardened three and a half years before the big jump, in December 2019. "
I'm not the type of guy to say" no, you have to stay with me ".
Everyone has a dream.
He went to “his” club, the team he dreamed of
”, had encouraged the “big brother”, who became overnight a rival for his disciple.
“
I would rather (compete) against someone else, because I only want the best for him
,” Arteta flattered this season.
Pep Guardiola and then-assistant Mikel Arteta at Manchester City in 2019. JASON CAIRNDUFF
Guardiola speaks good about football, but he speaks even better about Arteta.
He speaks of him as his son, but never with paternalism.
Before the current season, the most beautiful of the Gunners since that of the Invincibles (2004, their last league title), the coach found himself more than once in the hot seat in London.
“
The greatest compliment we can give Arsenal is to have supported him in bad times and to have trusted him
,” brandished the former Barça coach (2008-2012) at the end of January.
“A stronger temperament” at Arteta
There is affection between men, a common love for polished football.
But there are also differences.
“
Both are Spanish, but not from the same region
,” notes Robert Pirès.
The 2000 European champion underlines "
a stronger temperament
" in Arteta, the Basque, compared to Guardiola, the Catalan.
The native of San Sebastián, "
needs to be close to the players, he needs to have this contact
", enumerates Pirès, always close to a club of which he is an ambassador.
The child of Santpedor, a small town 60km from Barcelona, (52 years old) also had his crises of gesticulations, but "
he manages to channel himself more than Arteta (41 years old)
", believes Pirès to know.
“
If he could get on the pitch, he would.
In fact, I have the impression that he is still a player
, ”laughs the ex-French international.
I don't know what part of me there is in him but his influence on me has been great, enormous, very important in making me better as a manager.
Pep Guardiola on Mikel Arteta.
Younger, more flexible Arteta
In the game too, taking out the magnifying glass, we perceive some deviations.
Arteta more easily accepts a change of style and a more direct game if necessary, when his elder deviates less from his roadmap.
The Citizen, on the other hand, is more open about its starting lineup: fifteen of its players have started 15 times or more in the Premier League.
At Arsenal, eleven players have started 18 times or more.
The twelfth, Eddie Nketiah, was “only” nine times.
Arteta doesn't change her team, especially when she wins.
Arteta, former PSG player (2000-2002), does not copy/paste.
But the coach he is was not born from a blank page.
"
I feel grateful because he (Guardiola) inspired me as a player and gave me my chance as a coach
," Arteta said in February.
"
I don't know what part of me there is in him but his influence on me has been great, huge, very important in making me better as a manager
," Guardiola replied.
We don't know who Arsenal or Manchester City will rule on the pitch, but there is at least one thing that is guaranteed to triumph: respect.
