26.09.2008 15:01
Coaches meet ahead of the derby
www.fcabrcelona.cat
The coaches of FC Barcelona and RCD Espanyol, Pep Guardiola and Bartolomé Márquez, met on Friday on the pitch in the Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys.
While the derby continues to stir the passions, the two trainers met ahead of the encounter to pose
for photographs in front of the assembled media on Montjuïc. Guardiola and Márquez did the
traditional handshake and posed with their club’s respective shirts for the newspapers.
Then the duo walked back down the tunnel together towards the changing rooms and then on to
the press room where the journalists were waiting for them. During the brief photo shoot, both
coaches were full of smiles, but said nothing.
Two Catalan coaches
For the first time since the 2001/02 campaign, both coaches
are Catalan. Guardiola and Márquez are the first local pair since Carles Rexach and Paco Flores
were on opposite benches. In the last two seasons Frank Rijkaard and Ernesto Valverde were in
charge of the respective teams.