Hugh MacDonald meets Marti Perarnau: The Man who knows Pep Guardiola best

THE verdicts are delivered without fuss.

This will Pep Guardiola’s toughest challenge. It may take him three seasons to achieve what he wants at Manchester City. Guardiola will have to change what made him successful at Barcelona and Bayern Munich. And the Manchester City players will be sentenced to a period of unrelenting hard labour.

The judgments have been made by someone who has watched Guardiola on the training ground, has been privy to both the coach’s methods and his secrets and has earned the respect of the Catalan. Marti Perarnau spent a season with extraordinary access at Bayern Munich. He was allowed on to the training field, into the gyms and dressing rooms and into the players’ restaurant.

Coman is Euro 2016's fastest player

According the UEFA's statistics, Kingsley Coman is the fastest player at the Euro 2016 just ahead of Josh Maegennis of Northern Ireland and Emre Mor of Turkey.

The Bayern winger has had a breakthrough season in the Bundesliga while also shinning in the Champions League.

The youngster had to compete for minutes at club level with the likes of Arjen Robben, Douglas Costa and fellow French man Franck Ribery, while the Frenchman was a surprise inclusion in Deschamps' squad with the former Juventus manager choosing him over the likes of Hatem Ben Arfa or Mathieu Valbuena after impressing in friendly games.

The young forward will probably be on the bench for France's next game against Ireland on Sunday at the Stade de France as Dimitri Payet and Antoine Griezmann are more likely to start, but his pace makes the 19-year-old increasingly likely to come off the bench against tired legs.

Guardiol' s hardest ride

BERLIN, Jan. 23 (Xinhua) -- Assessing Pep Guardiola and his era at Bayern Munich might be complicated. Has the 45-year-old football mastermind been successful in his three years or not? Was the Catalonian the right coach at the right time? You might get diverse answers depending on your perspective.

Fact is: Looking at the upcoming months, Guardiola and Bayern face the maybe toughest challenge ever. You might say there is just a job to do. Sure there is, but the situation couldn't be more complex as Guardiola in December announced to leave next summer and Bayern promptly presented Carlo Ancelotti as their next coach. When considering Guardiola's Bavarian era, winning the Champions League or failing again might help to create answers. The next approximately four months will be Guardiola's hardest ride in his career so far.

The perhaps most important question that has to be answered is: Is it enough when you can call a coach a development worker at this high level or is it vital that you win international titles besides the national successes?

It seems to be the key question and a heavy burden on the shoulders of all in Munich. 2013 Jupp Heynckes achieved what Guardiola is dreaming of despite the latter seemingly hiding his true feelings by statements that try to indicate a man at ease. Heynckes, knowing he would leave, won the treble.

"Titles are just numbers. Football is emotion," said Guardiola recently. He asked to be admired for the "football my team plays, not for the trophies I won, titles are nothing." He is both right and wrong. A coach taking over a club like Bayern Munich has to win international titles. That is part of his job profile. Looking at Bayern's style with Guardiola in charge, even critical pundits must admit: Bayern's play has never before been of such beauty. Under Guardiola, Bayern has no longer been accused of playing ice-cold football and being lucky. Non-Bayern fans called it "Bayern-luck" (Bayern-Dusel).

But after all, Guardiola was employed to develop Bayern Munich which he has undoubtedly done when it comes to tactics and flexibility. Bayern need and wanted an international figure like him to push the club forward to new international heights. Bayern wanted to close the gap to the big boys like Real Madrid and Barcelona. Today you would say, they have (well Guardiola has), but the final proof is still lacking. It will come if Bayern reverses previous results when they were painfully beaten in the past two years by Real and Barcelona in the semifinals of the Champions League.

Today the judgement on him has changed. Guardiola is seen less than a magical coach but more as a pragmatist who is not inevitably part of the furniture standing for emotions. This has turned out to be a certain problem in a club built on emotions and "homemade" world class stars. Guardiola lets on only very little keeping most of his thoughts to himself. His next challenge will be not to lose a team of individuals that have a high amount of self-motivation and keep an eye on the team spirit. Not all of Bayern's top players are sad about him leaving (for instance Franck Ribery). Guardiola has to watch his relationship to every squad member until he leaves.

After all Bayern and Guardiola for the rest of their time together can be seen as a partnership of convenience that has been through a lot of power struggles after Guardiola tried to test his influence within the club before being limited by the club bosses when it came to transfer decision-making and the battles with the team doctor.

Hesitating to make a clear statement and stay longer, Guardiola first lost a lot of sympathy and the understanding of Uli Hoeness. But now the former club president is the man everybody at Bayern Munich is counting on as he will leave jail after serving the two-year sentence for tax offences. When the second half of the German Bundesliga seasons kicks off this Friday evening with Bayern Munich's game in Hamburg, the imminent return of Hoeness (until now he is responsible for the club's youth teams) might help solve possible problems during the last meters of Guardiola and Bayern. The first serious test is waiting when Guardiola and Bayern meet Juventus Turin mid-February and mid-March in the round of the last 16 in the Champions League.

What Guardiola and Bayern need to do is to create a happy end and to get off to a good start in the second leg of the season as seven of their first ten games are away. They have to be aware that partnerships in football are most of the time contracts for a certain time, but not always a long-lasting love affair.

At the end Guardiola will have won several titles with Bayern (to date two German championships, one cup win, the European Supercup and the Club World Cup) and everyone has to decide if it was an inspiring and successful time together, no matter the number of titles.

Bayern Munich's Franck Ribery closing in on comeback

Bayern's Franck Ribery is closing in on a comeback after eight months out.

 Bayern Munich winger Franck Ribery has described his eight-month injury absence as the "most difficult time" of his career.

The 32-year-old has been sidelined since March due to an ankle problem but is closing in on a return for Pep Guardiola's Bundesliga leaders.

And the former France international believes once he is fit it will not take long before he is back to his best.

"It's been the most difficult time of my career," said Ribery in Kicker magazine.

"It's tough when you don't know when and how things are going to move on, but no worries - I'll be my old self again soon.

"I'm feeling good. I do still feel my ankle a little, but when I am warm, I don't feel anything anymore."

Ribery only recently returned to light training and he is not going to rush his return.

"My body's first got to get used to the exertions," he said. "Since I was wearing a plaster cast, I lost a lot of muscle and it was a long break.

"You've got to take things slowly. It would be nice to be back (in full training) in two or three weeks, to get that feeling of being part of a group back, to laugh with the lads and have fun - I've missed all that."

While no specific date has been put on when Ribery might play again, Bayern are hoping to have him back in action prior to the winter break.

CHELSEA LOOK FOR SOLACE IN EUROPE

Chelsea will host Maccabi Tel Aviv in its Champions League Group G opener on Wednesday, needing a win to take some pressure off manager Jose Mourinho.

The Blues have lost three of its opening five games — the latest a 3-1 loss to Everton at Goodison Park on Saturday — and is languishing in 17th spot in the domestic competition.

Only four months ago, he was lifting the Premier League title at Stamford Bridge for the third time as Chelsea cruised to its fourth championship, eight points ahead of runner-up Manchester City. Now, the Blues already trail Manuel Pellegrini’s side by 11.

Owner Roman Abramovich runs the club discreetly but he is impatient for success and a dispute with Mourinho was a factor in his departure the first time around in 2007.

So when the Blues take on the Israeli club,  Chelsea is expected to win comfortably and anything other than an assured display will only heighten the pressure on Mourinho.

Eden Hazard, Diego Costa and Cesc Fabregas were cornerstones of Chelsea’s premier league-winning team but their low performance levels so far this season have been a contributing factor to the club’s woeful start.

Mourinho could be tempted to rotate his team, with Loic Remy in attack and Brazil international Oscar pushing to replace Hazard. With a clash against fierce London rival Arsenal on Saturday, it is important for Chelsea to quickly return to winning ways.

Porto, which Mourinho led to the Champions League title in 2004, take on and Dynamo Kiev in other group game.

Iker Casillas has played 152 games in Europe’s top club competition in a Real Madrid shirt. His 153rd appearance will be in FC Porto’s colors.

The 34-year-old Spain goalkeepermoved to Portugal in the summer. He has conceded two goals in four Portuguese league games so far and Porto shares top spot. However Porto’s coach Julen Lopetegui will serve a touchline ban when they travel to the Ukrainian capital.

Barca travel to Rome

ROME: When Lionel Messi and Barcelona open their Champions League title defense at Roma on Wednesday, the Giallorossi will be eager to show they can no longer be pushed around by European powers.

“Barcelona is an immense club, the defending champion, they’ve won their first three Liga matches, but there’s no point in saying great things about this squad,” Roma coach Rudi Garcia said.

Roma has had a strong start to Serie A, beating last season’s Champions League runner-up Juventus 2-1, and showing strong potential with an impressive array of new players in Edin Dzeko, Iago Falque, Mohamed Salah, and Wojciech Szczesny. But Garcia will be without key playmaker Miralem Pjanic due to a right calf strain.

Bayer Leverkusen hosts BATE Borisov in the other Group E match.

Lionel Messi is set to make his 100th appearance in the Champions League and look to add to his record 77 goals in the competition — a mark he shares with Real Madrid’s Cristiano Ronaldo.

Barcelona is without Dani Alves.

Meanwhile, Bayern Munich begins the quest for its sixth European Cup at Olympiakos on Wednesday, while Arsenal opens its 18th successive Champions League campaign at Dinamo Zagreb.

Dinamo, back in the competition after a two-year absence, is on a 41-game unbeaten streak across all competitions. The Croatian champion has never previously qualified from the group stage in four previous attempts.

Bayern, the 2013 champion, is also hoping to go at least one stage further after semifinal exits the past two seasons.

Pep Guardiola’s tenure as Bayern coach will be judged on success in Europe this season, likely his last with the Bavarian club.

After taking over Jupp Heynckes’ treble winning side in 2013, Guardiola has enjoyed overwhelming Bundesliga success while crashing out in successive seasons to eventual champions in the Champions League semifinals. Last May’s 5-3 aggregate loss to Barcelona was at least an improvement on the 5-0 defeat to Real Madrid the previous year.

Now in the final year of his contract, with no indication yet of whether he will extend, Guardiola is under pressure to lead Bayern to its sixth European title in his third attempt.

Wingers Arjen Robben and Franck Ribery are ruled out through injury, while attacking midfielder Mario Goetze should have overcome a muscle strain that kept him out of action Saturday.

ARSENAL’S STRIKING ISSUE

London: Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger came under intense scrutiny from the English media for not signing a striker in the summer transfer window, with doubts about Theo Walcott and Olivier Giroud’s ability to consistently deliver at the highest level and Danny Welbeck out until Christmas with a knee injury.

But Walcott and Giroud vindicated Wenger on Saturday, each finding the back of the net against Stoke to lead Arsenal to a 2-0 win, its first at home this season.

Franck Ribery will have new tests on injured ankle at end of August

It's been a month since we last received an update on the status of Franck Ribery. Friday, filling in for Pep Guardiola at the club's pre-match press conference, sporting director Matthias Sammer showed up to notify everyone on what exactly is going on with the Frenchman.

"A new test is scheduled for the end of August to see if we can step up his workload," Sammer said. He stressed that things were improving, but they were still a ways off. Sigh.

Do you remember the original injury that he picked up way back when against Shakhtar Donetsk in the Champions League? It was diagnosed as a minor ankle sprain that was to keep him out for a few games. Five months and an ankle boot later, Ribery is set to potentially learn a return date in roughly three weeks.

At 32 years old, who knows what to expect from a returning Ribery at this point?

What a disaster.