Whether it is a natural consequence of the level of football Barcelona live at or a result of the type of coaches that Barcelona employ, they appear to produce a continual line of players intent on playing ‘their way’.
Obviously there are nuances and tweaks according to each manager, but in many ways the ideals of Johan Cruyff have been continued by Pep Guardiola, Luis Enrique and Xavi Hernandez most recently. Former central defender Rafa Marquez is hoping to become the next in line.
Barcelona moved on Sergi Barjuan from his role as Barcelona B manager on Tuesday and Marquez appears likely to take over the reins.
Sport did a background check on Marquez and his managerial career and although there isn’t much to check, it appears Marquez is cut from the same cloth. The Mexican follows a strict 4-3-3 system and prefers the wide forwards to tick to the touchline, much like Xavi.
Marquez spent 5 months in charge of the Cadete A youth team for RSD Alcala, as well as an assistant for their first team too. He’s also a lover of positional football, which he implemented during his role with the youth team.
As always with these appointments, assuming a style comes with a degree of caution. Ronald Koeman was part of Johan Cruyff’s ‘Dream Team’ with Pep Guardiola and both came out with radically different visions of football.
