Page 134 - Pep Guardiola: Another Way of Winning: The Biography

Despite Eto’o’s decisive contribution in the Rome Champions League final in 2009 – with a goal
that gave Barcelona the lead against Manchester United – and the words of Guardiola at the end-of-
season lunch he organised for the squad, in which he thanked Eto’o for his commitment to the club, the
Cameroonian was traded for Ibrahimović that summer.

Pep had to admit he didn’t have much coaching expertise in dealing with strikers of that magnitude.
Each player has a personal goal, a dream – and the coach didn’t forget that. So Pep tried to find the
right balance to accommodate the individual’s ambitions within the team. Thierry Henry dreamed of
winning the Champions League and signed for Barcelona to do so; and after he won it, his level
dropped and he was happy to move on. Eto’o’s vision was not just the Champions League but also the
Ballon d’Or. He had sacrificed some personal goals in order to continue helping the team, but, like
every striker in the world, he had the need to satisfy his ego. To a point set by the manager.

Pep was convinced the team was doing the right things, the success was obvious and he wanted to
continue with the group’s logical progression. If he had placed Messi on the wing again for the next
season, he would have had to deal with an exceptional player who would lose motivation, unhappy
with being relegated to a less influential position. There was vast room for improvement from the
Argentinian but there was only room for one ego.

When the season finished, Eto’o went to Paris during his holidays. Pep found out and wanted to
travel to France to speak face to face with him, to explain the reason for his decision. But the coach
also believed that he had made a real effort to connect with the player, something he felt had not been
reciprocated. Pep never took that flight to Paris. That is what hurt Eto’o most: ‘As well as Guardiola
and Laporta, many more people have disappointed me,’ he said.

Ibrahimović and Pep on a different wavelength

Ibrahimović had filled the gap left by Eto’o in Barcelona’s front line in a swap between Inter Milan
and Barcelona. The Swedish star couldn’t have got off to a better start: he scored in the first five

games he played. He also provided Guardiola with important alternatives. ‘Tactically, he is very
good; physically strong, quick at getting away from defenders, and he plays well with his back to
defenders. So he allows us to play with someone else with him,’ the coach pointed out in one of the
first press conferences of the season.
The first half of the campaign was more than acceptable, but in the second half the Swede was less
than effective. He gave the impression that he hardly knew his role in the club and he seemed to be

getting in the way on the pitch, sometimes appearing to be yet another defender that Messi had to
dribble past.
There were soon disagreements in which he showed his strong temperament, and further signs that
a difficult season lay ahead. In a Barcelona–Mallorca league encounter (4-2), the referee gave a
penalty for a foul on Ibra, who had had a fantastic game but hadn’t scored. Messi took it and scored.
The Swede’s angry reaction was astonishing. ‘That penalty was mine!’ he shouted at the coach. There
were more such incidents to follow.

Before playing Madrid in the league at the Camp Nou, Ibra suffered a muscle injury and his
ultrasound scans were inconclusive in terms of his recovery. Pep didn’t want to take any risks. Zlatan
was desperate to play in his first Clásico. ‘I will be fit for the game,’ he kept repeating. He was so
tense that one day he went for Barça’s fitness coach Lorenzo Buenaventura and tried to grab him by
the throat. The player had got wind of a rumour that Buenaventura was telling the player that he would