Proud Catalan Bruno reveals his very personal Premier vow - and prepares to face his idol Guardiola

Now he hopes to get the better of another giant from his homeland – helped by a productive trip back to Spain tonight.

Bruno is back in Catalonia today ready to lead out his side against promoted Girona in Palamos.

It is the penultimate friendly before Pep Guardiola and Manchester City open the Premier League season at the Amex and a key part of the squad's preparation.

Bruno is a long-time admirer of Guardiola the player and coach, right back to the days he followed the fortunes of Barcelona as a kid.

Pep has done the Catalans proud at home and abroad and now looks to add a Premier title to his CV.

Bruno himself grew up immersed in his region's pride and culture, speaking both Catalan and Spanish.

One of the final things he did before returning to England this summer was to make good on a promotion pledge.

He scaled the heights of Montserrat to fulfil a vow he made back in January.

Montserrat, a mountain near Barcelona, is regarded as Catalonia’s most important spiritual retreat.

Such expeditions or pilgrimages are a big part of the Catalan culture and reserved for major life landmarks such as health issues, family matters or employment.

Bruno pledged to scale the revered peak midway through last season should his Premier League ambition be fulfilled.

He told The Argus: “I made a promise if we got promoted I would go to there. A lot of people make promises. They say if I get that job, if something (is good) with health, I am going to go up there walking.

“And I made that promise that, if we got promoted, I would go there.

“It was three hours walking up to the mountain but it was nice. I got there, had a drink of water and I went to the church - I’m a Catholic person.

“I went to say thank you for what we achieved in that season.”

Bruno is from a small town near Tarragona, some way south-west of Palamos, but hopes to have a few friends and relations at tonight’s game.

He also knows there will be a lot of attention on that late afternoon fixture at the Amex on August 12.

His brother, who laps up the pages and pages of football news in Diario Sport, the Barcelona-centric daily sports newspaper, can tell him that.

Bruno idolised Pep Guardiola, pictured here with ex-Barcelona colleague Ronald Koeman

Guardiola is another Catalan icon – and the manager Bruno would have signed for given the choice of all 20 Premier League clubs last season.

He said: “When I was young, Guardiola was my idol, because he was playing for Barcelona when he was 18.

“All of the boys, when we were maybe 13, we were looking at him like a role model. As a manager he has been pretty successful.

“I like his style as well. I’m so lucky because I met him a couple of times, and I think he is a top man.”

But he did he under-achieve in his opening season with City?

Bruno replied: “That is not easy. If you saw his press conferences, he changed quite a lot.

“He was changing his way of talking. When he came, maybe he expected football would be one way, and he found that it was so different.

“He knows in England you are not safe until you are beating a team 3-0 at least.

“In Spain you can be beating a team 1-0 and the game is dead. But not in England.”

Bruno learnt that lesson in the Championship. The 2-1 win at QPR last April stands out as a vivid example of the sort of game he often talks about.

The sort of game when a team with nothing to play for in lower mid-table throw the kitchen sink at their high-flying visitors after going 2-0 down.

In many countries, including Spain, that would have been a case of game over with 20 minutes to go.

There have been other differences on which he has picked up – and one key aspect of English full-back life which he has passed on to Markus Suttner in pre-season.

It involves an aspect of the game not always associated with a full-back’s role, that of defending against high balls.

Among the flicks and passes, one of Bruno’s little specialities is that knack of placing his bony frame in the square yard of space his opponent really wants to attack at the far post or on the end of a long diagonal.

Left-back Suttner is in the position the skipper was five years ago when he moved from Valencia and tricks of the trade have been passed on.

Bruno said: “The laws are the same everywhere but some are applied differently in England.

“In England, you are allowed to jump over the full-back.

“For us, that’s quite tough because that’s a foul in Germany, France or in Spain. You need to get used to it because you need to be in the right position.

“And if you don’t know that, then always you think you are in the right position but you are not.

“There’s a few things you need to change but he’s a clever footballer and I think he’ll be very good for us.”