I believe we might just have seen the greatest club side of all time in the making.
It’s not long since I said that Barcelona were the best I’d ever seen. But I’ll not bet against Pep Guardiola reaching even greater heights with Bayern Munich. The way the Germans brushed aside Manchester City was quite incredible.
Bayern were tremendous when they won the Champions League last season and it looks like they’re getting even better under their new Spanish coach. He has shown that it’s perfectly possible to move from one country to another and incorporate your own style.
We often bleat about there being too many foreign managers in England but who wouldn’t welcome someone with the vision of Guardiola? This guy really is something special.
It’s clear he’s thought very deeply about modern football during his own playing career. He knows that possession of the football is absolutely key these days. You can’t afford to give it away cheaply and teams that dominate the play tend to win most of their games.
Last weekend Barcelona had the least possession in a game for the first time since 2008. Their opponents, Rayo Vallecano, had 56% of the play but still lost 4-0.
Guardiola’s Bayern team are already looking like Barca all over again. Against City they played with no genuine centre-forward, closed the opposition down at top speed and went hunting in packs for the ball.
German sides have always been known for their work ethic and discipline. Guardiola seems to have taken that to a new level.
Franck Ribery and Arjen Robben are really dangerous attacking players in the wide areas. They are also now prepared to tuck in and work their socks off when Bayern don’t have possession.
We have to watch the development of this team very closely because there could be some history in the making. I’m prepared to predict they’ll be like Ajax in the 1970s and win the main European trophy two or three times in a row.
Some will feel we shouldn’t get overly excited on the basis of one game when it’s still reasonably early in the season. However, I’m not surprised to see the bookies having Bayern as short as 3-1 to win the Champions League.
There are some great sides in the competition but, even at those odds, I’m very tempted to have a flutter.
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