Page 156 - Pep Guardiola: Another Way of Winning: The Biography

The two managers met again in the semi-finals of the competition that same season, ideal for
Mourinho, who was becoming a specialist in knockout situations. His repeated strategy included
kicking off the match in pre-game press conferences, creating a hostile atmosphere and placing
football traps everywhere in the match.

For the first leg, Barcelona had to make their way to Milan by coach as a volcanic ash cloud
drifting south from Iceland had paralysed European air travel. UEFA never considered suspending the
game and Barcelona had no option but to spend fourteen hours on a bus to reach their Milan hotel.
Inter were tactically better prepared for the Catalans than earlier in the season and in the second half
Pep’s team didn’t quite seem at the races – despite scoring first, they conceded a Diego Milito goal
(although clearly offside), and finally Inter deservedly won 3-1.
As expected, Mourinho continued playing his games in the post-game press meeting: ‘It is always

difficult to lose, especially for those that are not used to it.’ Guardiola knew the game José wanted to
play and avoided being led into confrontation: ‘I respect him a lot and I won’t spend a single second
answering things like that.’
Pep needed his team to focus on the return match. José knew that Barcelona were uncomfortable
when dealing with strong emotions.
Mourinho, in his press conference before the return leg, fired another barb in Pep’s direction: ‘We

are following a dream; Barcelona are pursuing an obsession. They have this obsession called
“Bernabéu”.’ That season’s Champions League final was to be played at Real Madrid’s stadium and
José had shrewdly chosen those words even though Inter had not won the European cup in thirty
years. He added: ‘We are used to seeing these Barcelona players throwing themselves on the floor a
lot.’
Guardiola shook his head as he was listening to Mourinho’s words in a backroom at the Camp
Nou. When it was his turn to face the media, he tried to find the right tone to react to José’s message

and he wanted to steer the minds of players in a more positive direction: ‘My feeling is of huge
happiness, of an indescribable pleasure. It is an honour and a privilege to play again a semi-final of
the Champions League. I will enjoy the game and I want my players to do so too. I have told them to
be themselves. We aren’t playing against Inter, we’re playing against ourselves. We are going to see
if we are capable of being ourselves in the most important, transcendental game of our lives. Inter
Milan don’t even exist.’

Pep also felt the need to reinforce what his club were about after Mourinho’s insinuations: ‘We are
an exemplary institution. We have lost and won a few times in the past twenty months, but we have
always retained respect.’
Mourinho had picked his battleground and the rules under which this second leg was going to be
fought – and it worked against a Barcelona side which acted from the first minute of the game as if it
were the last. Iniesta was absent through injury and the team missed his clarity of passing and vision.
When Thiago Motta was sent off after a clash with Busquets, Inter had to dig in and defend for about

an hour: in many ways the perfect scenario for them because it meant they could drop deep
unashamedly.
Piqué scored well into the second half and a Bojan goal was disallowed for handball – but the
Italian team, defending superbly, made it to the final.
Mourinho walked on to the Camp Nou pitch at the final whistle with his arms aloft, looking to the
sky – only for Víctor Valdés and the water sprinklers to bring a premature ending to his victory

parade. ‘It is the most wonderful defeat of my life,’ he added minutes later.
Pep was magnanimous following his side’s knockout from the competition, no excuses were made