Edmilson: Barca will be strong under Tito

Former Barcelona player Edmilson believes the team will perform as well under Tito Vilanova as they did with Pep Guardiola.

Replacing the most successful manager in the history of the club, Vilanova knows he has big shoes to fill this season. While Edmilson admitted that the new manager was unlikely to repeat Guardiola's revolution of the team, he backed Vilanova to continue Barcelona's winning tradition.

"I think that the Club's philosophy comes from a way back, since the time of Cruyff and they have always shown that by playing great football. I have never seen a team play as well as they did under Guardiola, with all that possession, so many goals and such quality," Edmilson shared with the club's official website.

'Maybe it will be a bit harder now, but Tito has been working with these players for a while now and he knows their mentality, knows them well. The work philosophy will be the same and Barça will still be Barça, just as strong as in the last few years."

Playmaker Lionel Messi has been at the centre of the Catalan club's success, and Edmilson marvelled at the Argentine's development from a Barcelona B player into a world star.

"I came in 2004 and I saw him come up from Barça B to train with us. I said to my friends -'this kid will do something special one day'," he said.

"I think it's brilliant to reach such a high level and keep that up for so long. The hardest thing is staying at the top and Messi has been the best player over the last few years. He's shown that with his goals and his attitude on the pitch. Let's hope he continues to score lots of goals and Barça keep winning."

The Brazilian also expressed his surprise at the rise of Sergio Busquets, and he believes the defensive midfielder is eternally indebted to Guardiola.

"He [Busquets[ was a surprise for me, because when he came up through the B team I thought he looked a bit lost, but playing that year with Barça B under Guardiola was a big advantage. It was Guardiola's position and he ran the team how he wanted," Edmilson stated.

"Sergio is a pillar of the midfield, with Xavi and [Andres] Iniesta. His quality, together with the help of a master like Guardiola, has made him one of the key parts of the team."

The majority of the Barcelona first team come from the club's academy, a characteristic that Edmilson considers integral not only to the Catalans' success, but also to the Spanish national team's recent spell of glory.

"I think every piece of work gets its reward. Barça went through five or six years without winning anything and buying in lots of players from all over the world before they realised that they had players close to home who were just as good as those they had spent so many millions on. I've nothing against those players of course, but the academy is a diamond in the crown that produces players every year," he said.

"That's the best thing about Barça, that every year they get better and bring youngsters through who are capable of playing for the first team and go and play for Spain."