Page 196 - Pep Guardiola: Another Way of Winning: The Biography

three at the back, but those criticisms were really ridiculous: what we did was fill the zones on the
field where the game required it. If the opponent played with two up front, which was common then,
and my team went out with four defenders, I had one too many, so I moved him forward towards the
midfield.’ Or even: ‘There are people that say it is very dangerous to have a corner against you. I

think that the solution is not to give the corner away.’ Sublime common sense.
Cruyff demanded changes at the academy and La Masía began regularly producing the players he
wanted as well as providing the kids with a sound education, dual ambitions of the Dutch coach and
the club. ‘The player who has come through La Masía has something different from the rest, it’s a plus
that only comes from having competed in a Barcelona shirt from the time you were a child,’ says
Guardiola. He is talking not only about the understanding of the game and their ability, but about
human qualities. The players who go through La Masía are taught to behave with civility and humility.

The theory being that, not only is it pleasant to be unassuming, but also if you are humble, you are
capable of learning – and the capacity to learn is the capacity to improve. If you aren’t capable of
learning you won’t improve.
Since his arrival, Johan had tried and succeeded in convincing the club to train all the junior teams
in the same way as the first eleven – and to favour talent over physique. Naturally, there were
remnants of the traditional way of perceiving youth football and occasionally old habits persisted:

‘Little by little’ – said Cruyff – ‘we tried to change things. In the junior categories we wanted to
mould the player. You must know what his strengths and weaknesses are, work on them and correct
them. Depending on how you progress, you could start your time at the club playing in one position
and end up in another. The most important thing is being prepared to make the jump, understanding the
game. Halfway through this process that was transforming the club, Pep appeared before us.’ Cruyff
called him up to the first team.
Pep, Xavi, Puyol and Messi: they all know there is a reputation to live up to, an extremely high

standard of expectations to meet and an institution, a nation even, that they represent. And from the
moment they walk through those doors, even the very youngest players are constantly reminded of
that. When they travel to another city, when they are taken for dinner, when they go for a walk as a
group, the kids are told to be respectful and have good manners every single day. Guardiola summed
up those principles for the B team players when he delivered his introductory speech at the Mini
Estadi: ‘I like to win. I like to train, but above all, I want to teach people to compete representing

universal values: values based on respect and education. Giving everything while competing with
dignity is a victory, whatever the scoreline suggests.’