Barcelona found their perfect midfield pivot back in 1989, when coach Johann Cruyff spotted a lean teenager in the B team who was “slower than my granny”.
Pep Guardiola would blossom into the cornerstone of the great Barca side of the 1990s that won their first European Cup.
Guardiola was 21 when he anchored that team, which included Michael Laudrup, Ronald Koeman and Hristo Stoichkov, not forgetting City football director Txiki Begiristain, to victory over Roberto Mancini’ s Sampdoria at Wembley. If you are good enough, you are old enough.
