Los Gladiadores de Pep Guardiola

Here I am, living proof of what I was saying (grumbling?) in my last post - the domestic football season is over (in most of Europe at least) and I'm still writing about football.

My defence is that I'm still filled with joy and excitement at Football Club Barcelona's UEFA Champions League victory last week so I hope you'll forgive me as nights like that don't come along very often (or ever for the vast majority of clubs).

I was reading a story that Barca coach Pep Guardiola had compiled and then played a video montage of some of the highlights from the past season to his squad, set against a backdrop of magnificent Roman architecture and accompanied by a soundtrack and clips from the Oscar winning film Gladiator.

Guardiola enlisted the professional support of Catalan broadcaster TV3 and also stipulated that 1) every squad member should be featured in the video and 2) he (Guardiola) should not.

For me, little details like this are the difference between a good coach and a great coach.

Guardiola will be a great coach.