Magath slams Guardiola tactics: Messi won those Champions Leagues, not Guardiola

 Magath slams Guardiola tactics: Messi won those Champions Leagues, not him

Barcelona won two Champions Leagues under Pep Guardiola only because of Lionel Messi's brilliance, according to former Bayern Munich boss Felix Magath.

The Catalans won their first treble of LaLiga, Copa del Rey and Champions League trophies in 2008-09, which was Guardiola's first season in charge.

They conquered Europe again two years later, again beating Manchester United in the final, to mark one of the finest periods in the club's modern history.

Guardiola, who left in 2012 after winning 14 major trophies, has been unable to win Europe's top trophy since.

He won three Bundesliga titles with Bayern but suffered three consecutive semi-final defeats in the Champions League, to Real Madrid, Barca and Atletico Madrid.

Similarly, he has enjoyed huge domestic success with Manchester City, winning two Premier League titles, one FA Cup and three EFL Cups, but he is yet to guide them beyond the quarter-finals in Europe.

Magath has called Guardiola's possession-based system into question, suggesting it worked at Barca "solely because of Lionel Messi, who can decide a game out of nowhere".

"Messi won the title, not Guardiola," he told Sport Bild.

"Without Messi, this system has never worked as successfully for Guardiola, otherwise he would have won the Champions League with Bayern or Manchester City long ago.

"Tiki-taka only works if you have players who are technically superior to their opponents. For the spectator, holding the ball, as I call it, is just boring and a top team doesn't really need it.

"In my opinion, Guardiola generally too often gets lost in trying to win a game in advance. That tactic often ends in wrong decisions, which prevent success."

City's Premier League title was wrestled away last season by Liverpool, who became champions of England for the first time in 30 years in manager Jurgen Klopp's fourth full season in charge.

Magath believes the Reds' success is more down to shrewd business in the transfer market than Klopp's system, however.

"Jurgen Klopp made the system a success primarily thanks to his decisions on personnel, not because of tactics," he said.

"If Liverpool hadn't reached into the coffers and bought goalkeeper Alisson for €60million and a defender in Virgil van Dijk for €85m, this system would also likely not have been successful.

"In the past, I'd have called it counter-attacking; today, it is called 'Gegenpressing'."

LaLiga fine with or without Barca's Messi as Tebas warns of COVID-19 financial crisis

LaLiga president Javier Tebas played down the impact of Barcelona superstar Lionel Messi possibly leaving Spain, while warning of a financial crisis should the coronavirus pandemic force football to stop again.

Messi handed in a transfer request following a tumultuous 2019-20 season, which saw Barca humiliated 8-2 by Bayern Munich in the Champions League quarter-finals and dethroned by Real Madrid in LaLiga, before the six-time Ballon d'Or winner opted to remain at Camp Nou this term.

The 33-year-old – who has a €700million release clause – was heavily linked to Premier League giants Manchester City, while Paris Saint-Germain, Juventus and Inter also emerged as possible destinations.

Asked about Messi, Tebas told reporters: "As I always said, I will always want to see Messi in LaLiga. If he stays at Barcelona, much better for Barcelona.

"The union between Barcelona FC and Messi is so good for Barca, for Messi and for LaLiga. I'm not sure whether departing from Barcelona would have been a good idea for Messi.

"Maybe yes as a player, but not for Messi as a football industry, because Messi is a machine in creating industry around him. Not sure whether it would have worked for him.

"Messi will finally stay but I must say that we had already sold LaLiga TV rights worldwide for the next four years and nobody called us asking to cancel that agreement in case Messi would leave. No one."

The COVID-19 crisis forced the 2019-20 LaLiga season to be suspended in March before the league resumed behind closed doors in June, with Madrid winning the title.

The 2020-21 LaLiga campaign has kicked off but coronavirus cases are rising across Spain and Europe.

"We are reading in the newspapers that the economical activity cannot be stopped again, there must be a balance between the health and the financial aspect," said Tebas.

"If not, we could move from a health pandemic into a financial pandemic, which would be really dangerous."

Coutinho hungry to deliver at Barca after Bayern treble triumph

Philippe Coutinho is determined to make his spell at Barcelona a success after returning from a trophy-laden loan stint with Bayern Munich.

The midfielder had been a long-time target for Barca when at Liverpool and the LaLiga giants finally got their man in January 2018 for a deal worth €120million up front.

However, Coutinho was initially unable to live up to the hefty price tag and last season he spent the campaign with Bayern, who won the treble under Hansi Flick.

Coutinho played 38 times in all competitions, scoring 11 times, though he was often used off the bench, including in the 8-2 Champions League quarter-final win over Barca when he scored twice against his parent club.

With Ronald Koeman now in charge at Camp Nou, Coutinho has started all three LaLiga games so far and is keen to finally make his mark in Catalonia.

"I'm having a very good time," he told reporters while on international duty with Brazil.

"In these seasons I have achieved many things on a personal and collective level, which is the most important thing.

"I have returned to Spain with a lot of desire for things to go well and it is also what I want in the national team, every opportunity I have I want to play great games giving my best for the team."

Coutinho is back at Barca with the inside knowledge of how the best team on the continent operate.

He pinpointed the intensity of Flick's squad as one of the chief reasons for their success.

"At Bayern, I learned a lot about work, because they are very intense in training," he explained.

"A natural consequence is the evolution in the physical part, which I have really had, because you work a lot and I have worked a lot.

"I already had this way of thinking, but now I have to dedicate myself three or four times more than normal to be successful."