Page 141 - Pep Guardiola: Another Way of Winning: The Biography

rest? He didn’t need to take Messi out for a meal; their relationship was based on the field of play, on
the matches and training sessions. They communicated through gestures and silences, hugs and brief
talks. Sometimes just an ‘Everything OK?’ and a thumbs-up and a smile in response was all it took.
But the best footballer on the planet has the odd frustrating moment that Pep knows all too well.

There are many times when Leo is on top form out on the pitch, but others when he struggles to score
– and the first thing Pep used to do when he saw that Leo wasn’t functioning at 100 per cent was to
have a good look at him after the game. If the player’s head had dropped, he focused on picking him
back up.
Those frustrating games bring a moody Messi. He’ll stare at the ground in silence, unsmiling, sulky.
Under that angelic, innocent exterior there is a predator; behind his ambition and record-breaking
feats, there is also a child. And children are often unable to hide their feelings.

On one occasion, Messi took to the training pitch with a teaspoon in his mouth and kept it there
throughout much of the session. He normally has a coffee or yerba maté (an Argentinian herbal drink)
before training and has a habit of sucking on the spoon until he reaches the pitch, throwing it away
before starting his exercises. That day he chewed on it while they warmed up doing a piggy-in-the-
middle drill. His behaviour in training coincided with him having been subbed in the match the night
before. On other occasions where he was rested or substituted, he wouldn’t talk to his manager for

days.
When Ibra received the plaudits during his first few months at the club, Messi spoke with Pep and
said either he played as a number nine or he didn’t play at all. ‘And what am I supposed to do with
Ibrahimović?’ said Pep. Messi was adamant: ‘I play here, or I don’t play at all; stick the others out on
the wing.’
At the end of the 2010–11 season, Barcelona drew 0-0 in the Camp Nou against Deportivo, but,
with the Liga title in the bag, the celebrations started at the end of the game. Messi had been named as

a substitute but hadn’t played a single minute, with a Champions League final against Manchester
United looming; he wanted to distance himself from the celebrations of a Liga title that belonged to
him almost more than anyone else. He had found out that two goals from Ronaldo in Real Madrid’s
encounter with Villarreal had almost put him out of the race for the Pichichi and he wanted to go
home. Juanjo Brau, the team physio, had to go and get him, but by then the official team photo had

been taken without him. Upon his return, the photo was retaken.
In Pep’s last year, Messi gave his worst performance, coming from the bench against Real
Sociedad for the last half-hour. The next day he didn’t turn up to training and he didn’t get over his
anger at being left out until the next game: since that encounter, at the start of September, Messi
played every minute of the season. If you take football away from him, you’re removing his life’s
motivation. You just leave him with eating and sleeping.
Had Guardiola created a monster in Messi? The Argentinian had absolute power in the coach’s

final season, and his behaviour was sometimes out of place. He would get annoyed if young players
such as Cuenca (‘Lift your head up!’ Messi once shouted at him against Granada) or Tello (‘Cross!’
he shouted at him against Milan, when he went for goal, looking for Abbiati’s near side) didn’t pass
him the ball. Even David Villa wasn’t forgiven for having shots at goal if he had the option of passing
to Messi.
Like all forwards, this shrewd and determined individual wanted to keep his place and he fought

for it.
‘Messi learnt to make choices depending on the requirements of each game,’ Argentinian César
Luis Menotti stresses, and he is right. But his influence went far beyond the pitch: the club asked