Sunday 2 October 2016 14:06, UK
Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochettino believes Pep Guardiola embodies the start of a new era in football and his team will have to be "brave" to beat Manchester City, live on Nissan Super Sunday.
The current top two in the Premier League clash at White Hart Lane - the first meeting between Pochettino and Pep since they were local rivals as bosses of Espanyol and Barcelona respectively.
Pochettino remembers their clashes with fondness and nostalgia, including a memorable victory he secured at the Nou Camp in 2009 - the year Barca won the treble - but it was a 0-0 draw in his first game in charge of the Catalonians that had the biggest impact.
"He is the face of the change; when you mix the romantic football with the new technology," Pochettino said ahead Spurs against City on Sky Sports 1HD. "I think he is the start of the new era in football.
"My first training session (with Espanyol) was Tuesday then we trained again on the Wednesday morning - two training sessions in less than 12 hours - before the game.
"The players looked at me in the eyes like this (surprised), and I said to them we need to play high pressing and one-on-one at the back. They thought it was impossible against Barcelona, but I said 'no, it is not impossible. We need to play like this and we need to be ready'.
"It was good because 0-0 at Barcelona was a fantastic result and it was then easy to convince the players to play in a different way. It is about your personality, how you are. It is your lifestyle and you show on the pitch how you are.
"If you are brave in your life, you cannot behave in a different way on the pitch. It is about how you feel, how you are, your character. I don't understand how to play in a different way. Always be brave. I like to be brave."
Pochettino added: "The derby was special in Barcelona. Barcelona looks bigger than Espanyol but, in the end, Espanyol were the real Catalans; the foundation and basis of the club.
"Espanyol were the real Catalan people and Barcelona was founded in another way. That creates a bit of a problem between us.
"Always it was special to beat Barcelona because it is my sporting enemy. I am from Argentina but I spend half my life in Barcelona and my two sons were born in Barcelona. It was special."
