“Very proud” – Pep Guardiola heaps praise on Barcelona manager Hansi Flick

Viewers across the world were captivated by Wednesday’s 3-3 draw between Barcelona and Inter in their Champions League semi-final first leg clash. And among those to be watching on was Pep Guardiola, who was cheering on his former club.

Ahead of Manchester City’s Premier League fixture against Wolves on Friday (via Sport), Guardiola spoke on this week’s Champions League action. And in regards to Barcelona, he expressed a lot of pride in the way that they play.

“I was surprised by how beautiful the match was. Thanks to these types of matches, the stadiums will never be empty and our business will grow. I can only be very grateful for the two semi-finals; both were outstanding, especially yesterday’s.

“When you play like Barcelona, the stadiums are never going to empty. And we will be able to live from this for a long time. The results don’t matter; those of us who love Barcelona are very proud. And I think Inter showed once again, when we won the Champions League against them, how amazing they are: how they defend, the transitions, physically and how well organised they are. Inzaghi is an incredible coach. On Tuesday and Wednesday we will have two incredible games. All four teams are fantastic and deserve to be there.”

Barcelona have had an incredible season up until now, and a lot of the credit for this goes to Hansi Flick. He arrived last summer with a lot of disarray surrounding the club, and that lasted for the majority of the summer as their financial problems meant that only Dani Olmo could be signed.

But it hasn’t mattered in the end, as the work Flick has done with the existing players has been transformative. Barcelona will now hope that they can end the season with a historic treble.