FCBARCELONA.CAT

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.