The first competitive meeting of Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola and Andre Villas-Boas, his counterpart in Marseille on Tuesday, seems a decade overdue.
Ten seasons ago, they were both at the vanguard of what seemed a major shift across elite football towards young, precocious coaches.
Back then, they showered one another with praise. In 2010-11, Guardiola won his second Champions League title, as the 40-year-old guide of a dazzling Barcelona.
Ten days before Barca’s victory in the final over Manchester United, Villas-Boas’s Porto lifted the Europa League. “My inspiration is Guardiola,” he said afterwards. AVB, as he is known, was astonishingly young, just 33, and very obviously marked out for bigger jobs. “His Porto team are brilliant,” purred Guardiola.
That season, Jurgen Klopp won his first league title, with Borussia Dortmund, and Max Allegri his maiden Serie A title with AC Milan. They were both 43. Within the next decade, Allegri and Klopp would between them win eight leagues and reach three Champions League finals, while Guardiola would add three Bundesliga titles and two Premier Leagues to the trio of La Liga trophies he had already won as a manager.
As for the junior member of that brigade, he did not quite keep up. AVB’s early career – a Treble at Porto in his first full season as a manager, after serving as an assistant to Jose Mourinho at the trophy-laden Portuguese club, Chelsea and Inter Milan – gave way to a plateau.
With the nickname 'Mini-Mou', because of his association with Mourinho, still firmly tagged to him, he joined Chelsea immediately after his European success with Porto. He was sacked the following March. A season-and-a-half at Tottenham Hotspur followed, until Spurs turned their gaze towards another up-and-coming manager, Mauricio Pochettino.
At 43, Villas-Boas is entitled to feel he is still a very young manager, and, even if he has been away from football for periods, that he has packed a lot of useful learning into his time so far.
His stint in England had its highs. He was Chelsea manager for most of a season that finished, under his caretaker successor Roberto di Matteo, with the club’s first and only European Cup. His full season with Spurs registered what was then a historically high points total for Spurs – 72, and fifth place – and it yielded the €100 million sale to Real Madrid of Gareth Bale, who had thrived under AVB.
He went on to win a Russian Premier League with Zenit Saint-Petersburg, took Shanghai SIPG to the semi-finals of the Asian Champions League, and, in an unusual switch of sports, competed in the Paris-Dakar rally in 2018.
When Marseille offered him the head coach job, in mid-2019, he had been away from management for 18 months.
He has seldom had to operate with a tighter transfer budget than in Marseille, but, so far, Villas-Boas has encouraged supporters of Marseille to believe this studious Portuguese might be the sherpa to lead the club back towards the elevated status they once enjoyed.
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Player ratings for City 4 Porto 1
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MANCHESTER CITY RATINGS: Ederson - 7: The City goalkeeper was his usual picture of calm under pressure with the ball at his feet. -
Kyle Walker - 8: Playing as well as he ever has. The City right-back is an expert at bailing his team out of trouble, as he showed with a first-half goal line clearance. EPA -
Ruben Dias - 6: A sloppy pass led to Porto's opener but didn't put a foot wrong after that. AFP -
Eric Garcia - 7: One of two players on the pitch wearing the No 50, the 19-year-old stood up well against Marega's physicality. AFP -
Joao Cancelo - 5: The world's most expensive right-back looked a below-average left-back. Froze as Diaz sped past him for Porto's winner. EPA -
Bernardo Silva - 6: Looked to make things tick for City in the absence of De Bruyne but had little impact on the game. AFP -
Rodri - 8: Another rock solid performance at the heart of City's midfield. Almost scored a worldy while all eyes were on a coming together between Sterling and Pepe. AFP -
Ilkay Gundogan - 8: His tenacity led to the penalty for City's first and his last contribution before being substituted was a sumptuous free kick to give City the lead. EPA -
Riyad Mahrez - 7: Few in world football have a first touch as delicate as the Algerian winger. Should have made the scoreline even more impressive in the second half but his right-foot shot was saved by Marchesín. Reuters -
Raheem Sterling - 7: A fine tackle to stop Marega in the first half showed the English forward's understanding of what his side need more from him on occasion. Won the penalty that led to City's equaliser. EPA -
Sergio Aguero - 6: Scored his first Champions League goal in almost a year from the penalty spot but the Argentine did precious little else before being replaced on 68 minutes. EPA -
SUBS: Ferran Torres - 7: Stood Pepe up and then shimmied past him with ease before unleashing an unstoppable shot minutes after replacing Aguero. EPA -
Phil Foden - 7: A slick pass inside to set fellow sub Torres up for City's third. EPA -
Fernandinho - N/A: The substitute was himself substituted minutes after coming on after picking up what appeared to be a thigh injury. Reuters -
John Stones (not pictured) - N/A: Replaced the injured Fernandinho late on. Reuters -
PORTO RATINGS: Agustín Marchesín - 7: Pulled off fine saves from Mahrez and Rodri and commanded his box well. AFP -
Jesus Corona - 6: Recovered after a nervous opening when his hesitation under a high ball almost allowed Cancelo through on goal. EPA -
Chancel Mbemba - 6: Panicked every time City ventured forward. EPA -
Pepe - 5: Few are more masterful of the dark arts of defending than the 37-year-old Portuguese. Gave away a penalty, theatrically tried to claim one, kneed a stricken Sterling in the ribs and was then chasing Torres' shadow as the young sub ghosted past him for City's third. EPA -
Malang Sarr - 6: The best of Porto's back three. Stood up well to City's attacks before he was replaced due to cramp late on. EPA -
Zaidu Sanusi - 6: Tested Ederson with a first-half shot but otherwise struggled to get involved in the game. EPA -
Fabio Vieira - 7: A fine Champions League debut for the 19-year-old midfielder. Didn't look out of place on the big stage. EPA -
Sergio Oliveira - 6: Spent most of the game trying to draw the referee's attention to non-existent fouls by City. AFP -
Mateus Uribe - 6: Did most of his best work in defence when Porto really needed him on the ball further up the pitch. Reuters -
Luis Diaz - 8: The fleet-footed Colombian ghosted past three City defenders before unleashing a fierce shot to open the scoring for the visitors. Surprised to see him taken off after only 54 minutes. AFP -
Moussa Marega - 7: Looked the most threatening player on the pitch in the first half, running the channels and giving City's centre-backs a good going over. Had a chance to double Porto's lead but passed to a teammate and eventually City scrambled clear. AFP -
SUBS: Wilson Manafa - 6: A somewhat strange decision to replace the dangerous winger Diaz with a defensive-minded player. Didn't work out too well for coach Sergio Conceicao. AFP -
Shoya Nakajima - 6: Showed some bright touches around City's area but never really threatened. Reuters -
Medhi Taremi and Evanilson (neither pictured): Porto coach Sergio Conceicao gave Iranian Taremi and Brazilian Evanlison their Champions League debuts but neither made an impact. EPA
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They are the only French club to have lifted the Champions League – in 1993 – and when last season, AVB’s first at the helm, was abandoned in April because of the pandemic, Marseille were the closest to the serial champions Paris Saint-Germain in the Ligue 1 table. Being runners-up meant Marseille returning to the Champions League after an absence of seven years.
Progress beyond Group C, which they share with City, Porto and Olympiakos will be tough, especially having lost their opening fixture to an injury-time goal in Greece. Villas-Boas will welcome back his key creator Dimitri Payet from domestic suspension on Tuesday but acknowledges that Marseille expect to spend much of the match on the back foot.
“City are going to look to play high up the pitch and with all the mobility they have, you need to find ways of releasing the pressure,” said Villas-Boas. “I’m sure they will end up with 60 to 65 per cent possession. But this is a chance for us to take on one of the best teams in the world.”
It is also a first chance for AVB to take on his "inspiration". He used the word – twice – of Guardiola in yesterday’s pre-match press conference. “I got to know Pep when I was at Porto and he was with Barcelona, and I’ve always followed his career. He’s been an inspiration for me, as somebody who is always innovating, taking risks, changing the dynamic and the movements of his teams. He thinks a lot about ways of playing, and has never been a coach just focused on results.”
Recent results, though, are a City concern. They won just one of their last four Premier League matches and the inspirational Guardiola, just like Villas-Boas, is now approaching the tenth anniversary of his last winner's medal in any European competition.
