BARCELONA — Tito Vilanova is quietly stamping his authority on the Barcelona team as they head into their Champions League Group G opener at home to Spartak Moscow tonight with La Liga’s only perfect record.
Report by Reuters It was a daunting task to step up from assistant to replace Pep Guardiola in the Nou Camp hot seat, taking over from a fans’ idol who won a record 14 trophies in his four years in charge.
Vilanova, who turned 44 on Monday, did not command the instant respect that the former Spain international Guardiola had accrued, but he has quickly shown he is not afraid to plough his own furrow.
At Getafe on Saturday, Vilanova rested World Player of the Year Lionel Messi and Brazil international Dani Alves for a fixture Barça have often struggled with, and at a venue where champions Real Madrid fell 2-1 last month.
The side were also short of Andres Iniesta, Jordi Alba and Alexis Sanchez and during the Guardiola er, a often struggled with the so called “Fifa virus” after breaks for internationals. It had been a year since Messi was last rested for a league game and after Barça were held 2-2 at Real Sociedad, Guardiola never left him out again.
Vilanova’s side, however, came through with 4-1 victory at Getafe, displaying the zip and hunger that had at times been missing towards the end of Guardiola’s reign.
Probable teams: Barcelona: 1—Victor Valdes; 2—Dani Alves, 3—Gerard Pique, 14-Javier Mascherano, 18-Jordi Alba; 16—Sergio Busquets, 6-Xavi, 11-Thiago; 17—Pedro, 10—Lionel Messi, 7—David Villa Spartak: 31—Andriy Dykan; 7—Kirill Kombarov, 17—Marek Suchy, 2—Juan Insaurralde, 23-Dmitry Kombarov; 37—Romulo, 6—Rafael Carioca, 8—Aiden McGeady, 9—Ari; 10—Artem Dzyuba or 19—Jose Jurado, 29—Emmanuel Emenike.
