Page 175 - Pep Guardiola: Another Way of Winning: The Biography

7

THE GOODBYE. BUT BEFORE IT, ONE MORE FINAL

First Leg of the Champions League Semi-Finals. Stamford Bridge, 18 April 2012.

Chelsea 1 Barcelona 0

In London, and, as expected, Barcelona fielded their strongest side possible with Alexis, Cesc and
Messi upfront. From very early on, the team created chance after chance: Alexis hit the bar, Ashley
Cole cleared off the line, Adriano hit the post. Once, twice, three, four times the blue wall of Chelsea
blocked the way. Barcelona, Pep, Messi discovered that the English club had found a way to frustrate

them.
The team insisted on looking for answers through Messi, always in his central position.
The little genius then lost the ball, way too close to his own goal, almost on the halfway line.
Lampard found Ramires and the Barcelona players tracking back made a crucial mistake. The two
centre backs (Mascherano and Puyol) followed Drogba as he was trying to find space on the right of
the attack. One of them should have covered the back of Xavi who was desperately following
Ramires.

Xavi was on his own defending Ramires, who put in the cross for Drogba. There were gaps across
the Barcelona defence. It led to a goal, in injury time before the break.
Based on the result and not the performance, many reached the conclusion that Chelsea had
defended well.
Barcelona had twenty-four shots on goal. Chelsea scored one goal from their only shot on target.
Their dependence upon Messi and their lack of alternatives was clearly becoming a problem. But

Pep told the players if they had created twenty-four chances at Stamford Bridge, they would do the
same at the Camp Nou.
And then, in the press conference, the coach decided to reduce the pressure on a team that had lost
its cutting edge and felt the heavy burden on their shoulders of trying to win again. It was a novelty on
the part of the manager, perhaps a warning. At that point, it was difficult to comprehend Guardiola’s
reasoning: instead of demanding more from his players, about to take on Real Madrid in the league
and Chelsea at the Camp Nou for the most crucial clashes of the season, Pep seemed to take his foot

off the gas.
‘In sport, only those that win stay in everybody’s memory. I don’t know what will happen next
Saturday against Madrid or next Tuesday against Chelsea. But I have the feeling we have won this
season already. After four years competing at this level and having arrived at this point with injuries,
the illnesses … I have the feeling we have won, it doesn’t matter what happens next.’