Page 185 - Pep Guardiola: Another Way of Winning: The Biography

Pep had won his first trophy as manager of FC Barcelona against Athletic de Bilbao in 2009, his first
final played and won as a manager. Now, it was going full circle in 2012, 247 matches later.
His last ninety minutes as a Barcelona coach were lived with the usual passion and intensity the
public had grown accustomed to seeing, something that had been missing in previous weeks.

At the start of the match, Pep gave few instructions as he enjoyed a spectacular first half an hour;
with his side hungry, aggressive with the ball, not conceding an inch to the admirable Marcelo
Bielsa’s team.
The night marked a return to common sense, a return to basics. Even Guardiola was once again
more Guardiola than ever, with his energy and determination recovered, contagious.
Guardiola shyly celebrated the first goal, scored in the sixth minute. Pedro was the scorer, tapping
in a rebound in the box. And the coach went back to his seat on the bench where he didn’t move till

five minutes later when he stood up to clap young Montoya, the right back for the night, after erring a
cross from the wing.
Messi got the ball, around the twentieth minute and Pep, back to his privileged seat, shouted to
nobody in particular, ‘Look at him, look at him.’ The Argentinian scored after receiving a pass from
Iniesta.
Guardiola jumped from the bench, arms raised, clapped, turned around and gave Tito Vilanova a

big hug.
Equally effusively, he looked for the physical trainer Aureli Altimira after the third goal. Xavi had
held off a defender and left the ball for Pedro on the edge of the box, who finished with a low, left-
footed strike into the left-hand corner of the net. While Pep was hugging Aureli, Tito joined them and
so did other members of the technical staff – clearly transmitting an image with a message. ‘What are
they doing? What are they doing!!??’ an exuberant Pep kept asking Tito.
The two friends were trying to kill some intentioned rumours about their relationship but it was

also a celebration of a feast of football in which all the right decisions had been made – of a return to
common sense, to basics. Every player was in his place. Iniesta in the midfield, Alexis and Pedro
back in the eleven because they put more pressure to the rival build-up, and could help Messi more
than Tello, who stayed on the bench all game, and Cuenca, who had not been called up.
Pep’s last instructions had a certain symbolism. He asked Pinto, always in goal in the Spanish Cup,
to kick the ball quickly and long after an Athletic corner. The goalie, even though not the smoothest

with his feet, put the ball down and played it short and to a centre back positioned on the right of the
box. Then the team performed a big piggy-in-the-middle till the referee whistled for the end of the
match. It finished 3-0 to Barcelona.
It was the fourteenth title out of a possible nineteen in the Guardiola era (or the fifteenth, since Pep
likes to count the promotion of the B team as a title – in his eyes, one of the most important). It is
unprecedented.
Guardiola came out of his seat and went to shake Marcelo Bielsa’s hand. He returned to the bench

to hug each one of the technical staff and players. The Athletic players received his gestures of
consolation and then Guardiola retreated, to allow his players to take centre stage.
He did not climb the stairs to the balcony to receive the cup. Listen to his memories of that night:
‘Carles, injured, took the decision to let Xavi lift the trophy: the same as he did with Abidal at
Wembley.’
‘You get it,’ Xavi said. ‘No, you get it,’ Puyol insisted. ‘No, you do.’ The whole of Spain was

waiting and watching as Xavi finally picked up the cup, raised it and offered it to Puyol.
‘Carles is a great captain, he is always proving that by example. He helped me a lot, especially