REMEMBER HIM? AVB IS A NEW MAN

LONG before he washed up on the French coast, wounded by a rally car crash and two bruising years in English football, Andre Villas-Boas sought Pep Guardiola’s counsel. Then just 33, the Porto coach had spent seven years working under Jose Mourinho — but in 2011, as Guardiola and Mourinho’s rivalry came to the boil in Spain, VillasBoas visited Pep in Barcelona. ‘The meeting was arranged between the two of us, both wanting to share knowledge of our teams and our systems,’ Villas-Boas recalled yesterday. Something must have clicked — that season, Porto went unbeaten en route to the domestic double, before adding the Europa League crown. Villas-Boas, it seemed, was on his way to the very top. But for much of the decade since that meeting, Guardiola has headed further towards the pantheon of greats, while Villas-Boas appeared set for the scrapheap. He coached in Russia and China before quitting football to race in the Dakar Rally, where he was left nursing an injured back and a bruised ego. Now, though, Villas-Boas is quietly rebuilding his reputation at Marseille and tonight faces Guardiola for the very first time. In 17 months, he has brought Champions League football and hope back to the sleeping giant. His human touch has earned their trust, while freeing Dimitri Payet of the captaincy bore fruit. Crucially, Villas-Boas has evolved with experience. He is less wedded to the rigid tactics which defined his spell in England — the high line and press are now tweaked depending on the opposition. He has added pragmatism to Marseille’s attacking traditions, too. If Villas-Boas is to overcome Guardiola, the 43-year-old will rely on the experience he has amassed along this rocky road.