Even for Pep Guardiola, when I look at Manchester City I can recognise more from our time together with Johan Cruyff at Barcelona than ever before.
It might even be the winning of the Champions League. Back in 1992, when Barcelona were still waiting on their own first Champions League, Cruyff didn’t just play his formation. He came up with a “box” at the back, that had a brilliant technical player in Eusebio Sacristan at full-back. Eusebio was not a defender but his influence there completed the team, allowing such fluidity. It is similar with John Stones at City now, although he can defend very well. The system allows Guardiola’s team to play comfortably with so much space behind them, while also releasing Erling Haaland.
