How Arteta, Flick and Luis Enrique are inspired by Guardiola

The model of football that has come to define our era - often associated with Pep Guardiola, who expanded on what he learned from Johan Cruyff and Louis van Gaal - is not only the most prominent today, but also the one shaping the present and future of the game.

- BY GUILLEM BALAGUE

Guardiola didn't invent 'juego de posicion' - or positional football - but he developed it further than anyone before him, laying the foundation for a new cultural framework. And whether we like it or not, it has already taken over.

Indeed, three of Guardiola's disciples - Luis Enrique, Mikel Arteta and Hansi Flick - find themselves in this week's Champions League semi-finals. The Guardiola way will again be on show at the business end of Europe's biggest club competition.

There has been growing resistance to this model. Critics argue that it turns players into robots, removes spontaneity and asks defenders to behave like midfielders.

Some fans and pundits feel it's over-coached, overly structured, and lacking the chaos and excitement of "real football".

But perhaps that resistance is missing the broader picture or reacting not to the model itself, but to poor implementations of it.

Let's look at the facts. Five of the eight Champions League quarter-finalists this season played a version of positional football. Clubs across Europe - even traditional powerhouses like Liverpool and, eventually, Manchester United under Ruben Amorim - are gravitating towards it.

It produces brilliant games, particularly in European competition, where elite coaches and players amplify its potential. More than just a style, it's a winning model.

Most importantly, it's a cultural force. Clubs are hiring managers who believe in it, academies are shaping players to fit it, and football education globally is being reoriented around it.

Not everyone gets it right. But that's always been true in football. Not every team in the 1970s could play like Nottingham Forest or Liverpool but many tried, because those styles defined their time. Every era has a prevailing model, and it's natural that most teams move towards it.