'Ogre of the Bernabeu' Pep Guardiola aims to guide Man City past his old foes Real Madrid

On a March night 21 years ago, Pep Guardiola made what turned out to be his last appearance as a player at the Santiago Bernabeu. They had to drag him away – away, that is, from the match officials. A feisty clasico between Real Madrid and the Barcelona team Guardiola was captaining finished with outrage from the visitors at an offside decision that ruled out a potential winning goal from the Brazilian Rivaldo. Had it been allowed, Barcelona would have won 3-2. Guardiola was 31 at the time, and, according to the referee’s report from that evening, already had the full range of gestures that now animate his work as a coach on the touchline. Referee Jose Losantos Omar wrote that, after the final whistle, Guardiola “raised his arms in disagreement about a decision, and ran 30 metres from the technical area to where the assistant referee was.” Few people with as long an association with Barcelona as Guardiola has can enter the Bernabeu without feeling a range of emotions. Hostility towards and from Real Madrid is one, a heightened sense of motivation another. For the current manager of Manchester City, there is a vivid mosaic of memories: The anger at the officiating of that 2-2 draw in 2001; the embarrassment, as a precocious 24-year-old, of being substituted by his coach and mentor Johan Cruyff at half-time in a Bernabeu clasico. Madrid were winning 3-0. They ended up 5-0 victors in a match still celebrated by madridistas of a certain age. The stadium where Guardiola will patrol the technical area this evening, arms raised and whirling, urging his City to take care of their 4-3 lead from the first leg of the Champions League semi-final and to extend that lead, is much changed since his visits as a player, and since he was last there as a manager, a little over two years ago. The modernisation of the Bernabeu, making it a sleeker, more comfortable arena, is almost complete. The new-look venue has already witnessed two extraordinary comebacks. There was Madrid’s rousing recovery, from 2-0 down in the last-16 tie against Paris Saint-Germain with half an hour left to play; there was the recovery, from trailing Chelsea 4-3 in the quarter-final with 10 minutes left, to take the second leg into extra time and claim a place in this semi-final . Madridistas were celebrating again at the Bernabeu on Saturday, as the Spanish league title was clinched with a 4-0 demolition of Espanyol . Guardiola knows only too well the sound of a jubilant Bernabeu. He was on the winning side at the Bernabeu just once, part of losing Barcelona teams five times. But as a coach, he has been a master at silencing the place. Several Spanish media have been referring to ‘The Return of the Ogre of the Bernabeu’. Guardiola’s record as a visiting manager reads: nine visits and just a single defeat. As a young Barcelona coach, he quickly became Madrid’s nemesis: Five victories and no losses in seven games at the Bernabeu between 2009 and early 2012. The night that first defined him as a global superstar of coaching was perhaps the visit that finished with a scoreline more appropriate to tennis. Madrid 2, Barcelona 6. By the end of that season, Guardiola’s Barca had won the Treble. Two years later, Guardiola took his admired Barca to the Spanish capital for a Champions League semi-final. His press conference set the tone, stealing the thunder of his rival Jose Mourinho, and aiming a sharp rebuke at the “gossips” of Real Madrid. When he rejoined his players after the press conference, they broke into applause. The following night, Barcelona won 2-0, smoothing the path to Guardiola’s second European Cup as a manager in his third season in the role. That was 11 years ago. A third Champions League title has been stubbornly hard to seize. In 2014, Guardiola’s Bayern Munich had the better of possession when they came to Real Madrid in the semi-final, but lost 1-0 and were heavily defeated 4-0 in the German leg. In 2020, an accomplished comeback from 1-0 down at the Bernabeu looked like a coming-of-age for City, and the 2-1 win effectively eliminated Madrid in the last 16. But they were beaten by Lyon in the next round . On Wednesday, they are within touching distance of a second successive final. If City’s players can block out the noise, Guardiola’s tenth visit to the Bernabeu as a manager will feel like his most satisfying.

'Ogre of the Bernabeu' Pep Guardiola aims to guide Man City past his old foes Real Madrid

Former Barcelona player and manager defends a 4-3 lead going into Wednesday's Champions League semi-final second leg in Spain