Page 83 - Pep Guardiola: Another Way of Winning: The Biography

Yet Barcelona’s most outstanding innovation has perhaps less to do with their constant breaking of
convention, or even the creation and selection of such wonderful players with the technique and
vision to make it work – or even the realisation that beautiful football is such because it is effective,
not vice versa – but, rather, the fact that they have found a way to use the spaces on a pitch that seem

to be almost impossible to beat or counteract. Yes, Pep was beaten by Chelsea and Real Madrid in
different ways in his last season; but in the years Pep was in charge Barcelona have the highest ratio
of victories in crucial games in history. And not by chance.
Iniesta tells us that Pep was always explaining things to him about his positioning on the field.
‘He’d correct me, help me to improve, he’d tell me to enjoy what I do, have fun and love this
profession and this club.’ Xavi Hernández insists that Pep ‘is always two or three moves ahead of the
rest’. Javier Mascherano will always be grateful to Messi ‘for having recommended me and to Pep

for making me see that football can be played another way’. It must be easy to train and compete if all
the players had this level of analysis, humility and passion for what they do. A credit to their
profession.
And all of them, no matter how many times they won, carried around one commandment: ‘I am in a
huge club even in the hard times. I try not to betray the club’s principles nor the idea of team play nor
the legacy of my predecessors.’

An away trip to newly promoted Numancia provided the opening game of the 2008–9 La Liga season.
The tactical chat at the hotel two hours before the journey to the stadium confirmed there were no

surprises and all the big names were in the line-up: Víctor Valdés, Dani Alvés, Puyol, Márquez,
Abidal; Yaya Touré, Xavi, Iniesta; Messi, Henry and Eto’o.
The instructions were clear and simple: open up the pitch. Numancia will defend deep. Circulate
the ball quickly. Be patient.
On the way to the tiny Los Pajaritos stadium (capacity just 9,025), Coldplay’s ‘Viva la Vida’
blared from the speakers on the team bus. That song, a favourite of Pep’s, would become the
soundtrack to the rest of the season – the anthem for Guardiola’s era, even. When that song played, the

players knew the moment had arrived. It was a warning. The call to action.
The last rituals took place after the warm-up but by then Pep had disappeared from the players’
view. His preparations were over.
Both teams came out on to the pitch. The new La Liga campaign had started.
On the bench, Guardiola gesticulated, appearing angry. Tense. He’d sit down, stand up again.

Anxious. He couldn’t sit or stand still. More instructions. Fists in the air, arms wide. He transmitted
and exuded pure passion and energy. That is Pep, as a player and as a manager. Even as a spectator!
He had not promised titles. Rather, that each game would be treated as a final and that every minute
of every game had equal importance. He doesn’t understand or accept a group that doesn’t shout, hug,
give their all. All of that was noticeable in the first Liga game of the season.
He even smacked Dani Alvés on the back of his neck after a quick instruction. Alvés turned round
bewildered and surprised. It was only a gesture to connect with them, of appreciation. ‘But one day
they will turn round and smack you back,’ Estiarte warns him, laughing.

What Pep was doing, right from the beginning, was establishing a camaraderie, forging a bond, an
unspoken code between football people. The players are made of skin and bone and they too like this
contact. Even if it is a slap. Pep touches constantly, hugs, pushes them, to motivate them, to keep them
on their toes, to make them feel loved. And his experience as a footballer allows him to decide when