Page 116 - Pep Guardiola: Another Way of Winning: The Biography

but, no, we’re pushing them back.
Sir Alex: And the second goal, if you think about it; Messi, five foot seven, scores from a

header at the back post, against an English team. That shouldn’t happen.
PG: We played better in the second half than we did in the first.
Sir Alex: Barcelona had one or two chances before Messi’s goal, just after half-time, and
could have killed us off then but in the last fifteen minutes we actually had five chances.
PG: Xavi hit the post with a free kick and Thierry Henry was denied by Van der Sar

before Messi scored with twenty minutes remaining. Then we dug in and defended. But
after I watched that final again, I looked back and thought that it was all a bit of a gift.

Scouting report: Champions League final 2009

FC BARCELONA 2-0 MANCHESTER 2009

First half:

Manchester United had beaten Barcelona the previous year in the semi-finals of the
Champions League by being very defensive. With Ronaldo up front, Tévez off the striker,
Rooney very deep on the right wing. They sat back and counter-attacked. Evra marked

Messi, who played on the right, with the help of a defensive midfielder. In 2008, following a
0-0 at the Camp Nou, a repeat performance at Old Trafford with a goal by Paul Scholes
took United to the final. United were very happy with the performance. It was perfect.
Before the Rome final, United’s mentality had changed: they were now Champions
League title holders and the resulting confidence and sense of superiority were reflected in

their approach: Ferguson asked the team to press high. The message was, ‘we are the
Champions, we can’t sit back and defend deep any more.’
Manchester United got off to a great, positive start: with Cristiano as a striker up against

Touré and Piqué; with Rooney on the left to work the space behind Puyol at right back. The
United idea was clear: pressure high up the pitch to stop Barcelona building from the back
and look for Ronaldo as soon as they recovered possession, with an emphasis on trying to
find him in space behind Piqué (identified as being slower than Touré). This strategy
unsettled the Barcelona defence that was placed quite high upfield.

Ronaldo also dropped deep to receive the ball, turn round and run towards goal – and he