‘I loved them’ – Pep Guardiola on why he was so ‘impressed’ with Hansi Flick’s Barcelona

Manchester City head coach Pep Guardiola has on Wednesday moved to reveal his admiration for Hansi Flick’s Barcelona.

As much, of course, comes after City locked horns with the Blaugrana in the early hours of Wednesday.

As part of their respective pre-season tours of the USA, the English and Spanish heavyweights faced off in a high-profile friendly fixture in Orlando, Florida.

When all was said and done in an entertaining affair, the spoils were shared in a 2-2 stalemate, owing to goals on the part of all of Pau Víctor, Nico O’Reilly, Pablo Torre, and Jack Grealish.

From here, it was Barcelona who held their nerve in the ensuing penalty shootout, to clinch an impressive pre-season result.

Post-match at Camping World Stadium, it therefore came as little surprise when the subject of his former side’s showing was put to the aforementioned Pep Guardiola.

Barca are under new management for the season ahead, hoping for a return to past glories with Hansi Flick on the touchline.

And Guardiola, evidently, is of the opinion that the Blaugrana are off to a fine start, having explained:

“I was very impressed with Flick’s Barça. The season is long, but I loved them. The positional play is great, the wingers are wide, enter deep, and exploit spaces.”

From here,