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Barca President: Nothing special planned for Guardiola return

Xinhua, May 4, 2015 Adjust font size:

FC Barcelona President Josep Maria Bartomeu says the club have nothing special organized for what is sure to be an emotional return for former coach, Pep Guardiola to the Camp Nou Stadium on Wednesday night.

Guardiola will be in all of the camera spotlights when he leads his Bayern Munich side out at what was his home as a player and for four incredible seasons as Barca coach, but with a Champions League semifinal to follow, Bartomeu is planning nothing special.

"We have to respect Pep, but I think that it should be spontaneous and we are not going to organize anything for the occasion. There will not be any video or anything, but I am certain at the end of the game we will greet each other," said Bartomeu in an interview with Catalan TV network, Esport 3.

Guardiola had a strained relationship with Bartomeu's predecessor, Joan Rosell, but the former Vice-President, who took over at the club when Rosell resigned over irregularities in the signing of Neymar, insisted there were no problems in their relationship.

"He decided to leave and there is no issue. He knows the doors of the club are open when he wants and I think he will return one day," he said.

However, that 'one day' will not be in the immediate future as Bartomeu used the interview to show his confidence in current coach, Luis Enrique, who has so far been evasive over whether or not he will be at the club next season.

"Bit by bit we are building a squad and a good group of players," he said.

"There is no great mystery over whether or not he continues, he is focused on the first team and he will have time to prepare for next season. He (Luis Enrique) has a contract with Barcelona at the moment and he gets asked a lot about the future, but what he wants to do is focus in the job he has to do," explained the Barca president. Endit