Barcelona v Newcastle: "Sentimental? Oh yes, it will be sentimental. Whatever happens," was Bobby Robson's reply when asked, as he left for Spain, if he would put sentiment aside when he took his Newcastle side to Barcelona for this evening's Champions League tie. Michael Walker reports.
It was a question designed to get a hard-bitten answer. But Robson wrong-footed the assumption. There was no talk about the overriding importance of three points.
Robson knew what the truth would be when he walked back into the Nou Camp last night. As he said: "It's a cathedral of emotion. Barcelona will always be in my heart." Then he mentioned nostalgia, poetry and Picasso.
Picasso's name left everyone smiling. Robson was comparing football managers to famous artists.
"If you're a fantastic painter, you're never rich until you're dead," he said. "It's the same with football managers - you're never appreciated until you are gone."
And with that he was plunged back into the all-consuming theatre that is Barcelona football club. For one season in 1996, Robson was the major actor in that unrelenting drama. Then he was given a bit part as Louis van Gaal assumed centre stage.
Both Robson and van Gaal are back at the Nou Camp. For Robson it is a dream; for van Gaal it is turning into another nightmare. Sacked in 2000 after three seasons, van Gaal was brought back to Barcelona in the summer. It was not a popular appointment. Van Gaal needed immediate results and in the Champions League got them - a win tonight would be a record 10th in a row in this competition - but in La Liga Barcelona are 13 points behind the leaders Real Sociedad.
Robson's empathy with his successor came with a sigh. "It's the best, the best," he said in describing the feeling of managing Barcelona. "With England on a good day, representing your country, being in charge at Wembley, is something akin to it, but that is only three or four times a year. With Barcelona it is every two weeks. You have to be able to handle that because if you don't it will eat you up."
It was said with relish. The tumult was all part of the reason Robson loved Barcelona.
Robson was 63 and had been in professional football since he joined Fulham as a 17-year-old in 1950. But nothing could prepare Robson for Barcelona. "I was completely unaware and naive about what was going on at the club," he said.
That was a reference to the man he had succeeded and his enduring legacy. Under Johan Cruyff, Barcelona won their only European Cup, at Wembley against Sampdoria in 1992.
Under Robson Barcelona won three trophies, the Spanish Cup, the Cup Winners' Cup and the Super Cup.
Now Robson is back, but without the suspended Alan Shearer and Craig Bellamy. He would love to win, but even if he does not, it will still be his night.
"Sentimental? Oh yes."
PROBABLE LINE-UPS
BARCELONA: (4-3-1-2): Bonano; Puyol, de Boer, Reiziger, Cocu; Rochemback, Xavi, Motta; Riquelme; Saviola, Kluviert.
NEWCASTLE (4-4-2): Given; Griffin, O'Brien, Hughes, Bernard; Solano, Dyer, Speed, Robert; Ameobi, Lua Lua.
Guardian Service
