Page 114 - Pep Guardiola: Another Way of Winning: The Biography

To which his friend could only add, ‘Wow!’
The players were surprised when their warm-up session at the Olympic stadium was

brought to an end by the physical trainer a little sooner than they expected.
But they were still in the zone. There was emotion, tension, in the air as they headed
down the tunnel that took them to the dressing room. Nervous, anxious.
Occasionally, one player shouts, claps a team-mate on the back, all to break the tension.
Hearts racing. The clatter of studs on the floor. Toc toc toc toc toc toc toc.

At that moment, footballers don’t want to be disturbed; they want only to focus on their
routine, to be left alone to get on with their last-minute preparations and superstitions. At
Barcelona, Víctor Valdés is always the first to get back to the changing room after the pre-

match warm-up. In Rome, he got to the dressing room, only to find it locked. He banged on
the door, but was not allowed in. One of Pep’s assistants came out and blocked his way,
telling him he’d have to wait. Valdés was flabbergasted. Xavi was next.
Xavi: What’s going on?
Víctor Valdés: He isn’t letting us in!

Xavi : Why!?
Víctor Valdés: I’ve been told to wait.
The rest of the group arrived, and they were finally let in after being made to hang around

in the corridor a few minutes longer.
Pep made himself heard above the chatter: ‘Lads, I want you to watch this. Enjoy it. This
is the teamwork that has taken us to Rome!’
The lights in the dressing room went off as a big screen illuminated the room and the
theme from the movie Gladiator filled the space with sound.

Guardiola’s friend Santi had produced a rousing seven-minute video montage that merged
images from the Hollywood blockbuster Gladiator with footage of the entire Barcelona
squad, all set to the film’s epic soundtrack. You can see it for yourself online. Every single

footballer, even those who played a more peripheral role in the season, is honoured in the
film – two sub goalkeepers, Hleb, Milito, and it had been tricky finding footage of the injured
defender from that campaign. It featured everyone. Except Pep Guardiola – the coach had
stipulated that under no circumstances did he want to be eulogised in the footage. It was all

about his players.
When the film finished there was silence in the room. Nobody moved, firstly because of
the surprise, then the emotion. Players were shyly looking at each other. Tears were shed.
Milito cried, he was missing the final. Unthinking, unconsciously, players had put their arms

around teammates’ shoulders. It was a moment, an intense, special moment.
Unforgettable, emotive. But was it the right thing to do?
‘I don’t know if it was because of the feelings the video brought up or what, but our first
minutes of the final were pretty awful,’ Iniesta says now. Even Pep Guardiola admits that he

might have moved the players a touch too much.

The game, the managers