Sports
No special welcome for returning hero Guardiola: Barcelona president
Madrid, May 4
Spanish football club FC
Barcelona president Josep Maria Bartomeu says the club has nothing
special organised for what will be an emotional return for former coach
Pep Guardiola to the Camp Nou Stadium during the team's Champions League
semi-final first leg tie against German side Bayern Munich on
Wednesday.
Guardiola will be in the spotlight when he leads his
Bayern Munich side out at what was his home as a player and for four
hugely successful seasons as coach during which he won an incredible 14
trophies, reports Xinhua.
But with a Champions League semi-final to follow, Bartomeu is planning nothing special for the much loved coach.
"We
have to respect Pep, but I think that it should be spontaneous and we
are not going to organise anything for the occasion. There will not be
any video or anything, but I am certain at the end of the game we will
greet each other," Bartomeu said on Monday.
Guardiola had a
strained relationship with Bartomeu during his last days at the club but
insisted there were no problems in their relationship.
"He
decided to leave and there is no issue. He knows the doors of the club
are open when he wants and I think he will return one day," he said.
However,
that 'one day' will not be in the immediate future as Bartomeu used the
interview to show his confidence in current coach Luis Enrique, who has
so far been evasive over whether or not he will be at the club next
season.
"Bit by bit we are building a squad and a good group of players," he said.
"There
is no great mystery over whether or not he continues, he is focused on
the first team and he will have time to prepare for next season. He
(Luis Enrique) has a contract with Barcelona at the moment and he gets
asked a lot about the future, but what he wants to do is focus on the
job he has to do," he explained.