Pep Guardiola said Tuesday he never dreamed both he and ex-Barcelona team-mate Julen Lopetegui would be rival coaches for a Champions League quarter-final when Bayern Munich take on Porto on Wednesday.
Guardiola’s Bundesliga giants are at Porto’s Estadio do Dragao for the first leg with Bayern bidding to reach a fourth Champions League semi-final ahead of next week’s return leg in Munich.
But 20 years ago, the rival coaches were team-mates at Barcelona when Lopetegui made a handful of appearances in Barcelona’s goal, while Guardiola was a defensive midfield stalwart in the 1990s.
“When we were young, we never expected that we would one day coach teams in the quarter-final of the Champions League,” said Guardiola, 44, who won 14 trophies as Barcelona coach before joining Bayern.
“He puts in some very good work and his team plays very good football.”
Lopetegui’s Porto are unbeaten in the Champions League this season.
They are second only to Benfica in Portugal’s top flight in his first club appointment since 2009 having worked with Spain’s junior international sides in recent years.
The 48-year-old coached Spain’s Under-19s, who won the 2012 European Championships, then managed the Under-21 team that won the 2013 European title and is now bidding for his first silverware as a club coach.
In contrast, Guardiola has already claimed four trophies at Bayern on top of the 14 he won with Barcelona, with the Bavarians in the hunt for the treble of European, domestic cup and league crowns this season.
“We are friends and the affection is mutual, we respect each other and I consider him to be one of the best coaches in history,” enthused Lopetegui, who joined Porto last May.
Bayern arrive in Porto with a heavily depleted squad after losing stars Arjen Robben, Franck Ribery and Bastian Schweinsteiger to injury at a time when they are playing games every three or four days.
Lopetegui has his own injury worries with top-scorer Jackson Martinez out with a groin problem and forward Christian Tello also ruled out.