Page 85 - Pep Guardiola: Another Way of Winning: The Biography

game. A hugely frustrating result.
In the dressing room, Pep did not need to point out mistakes, as there were few. It was during that
post-match reflection that he really discovered himself as a trainer. He was grateful for having
prioritised and trusted his instincts about the game, ahead of what any amount of reading could have

advised him. Yes, there was more soul-searching to do, more convincing to do, more work on the
ideas that he wanted to instil at the club: but against Racing he had seen a team play as he had asked
them to play.
There was certainly an improvement and any dissent or unrest was external – in the media and on
radio phone-ins – rather than inside the dressing room. Some reactionary pundits even called for
Pep’s head.
Just before the next training session, Andrés Iniesta, who had started the Racing game on the bench,

went up to Pep’s office, knocked on the door, stuck his head through the opening without entering and
said:
‘Don’t worry, mister. You should know, we’re with you until the death.’
Then walked off.
Other key members of the team reacted in their own ways. Xavi felt there was no need to say
anything, just to win the next game. He could see that the team was playing ‘bloody brilliantly, like

angels’ but had one point out of six. He couldn’t believe it. He’d experienced days in the past when
he knew that the team had played pitifully, but managed to sneak a win. This was the reverse.
He had seen the media reaction in similar situations. After a victory, the headline was going to be
‘Barça are a marvel’ no matter what the performance was: ‘What people want are results, and from
the results they analyse if you’re playing well or not. If you lose, the headline will always be “Barça
is a disaster”.’
Xavi, Henry, Valdés, Busquets all realised that Pep was nervous behind his calm façade. He won’t

admit that a match can be lost without explanation. He has to find a reason for everything. In this
respect he watches football from a scientific perspective and appreciates the lessons a defeat can
teach you: ‘What makes you grow is defeat, making mistakes. It is what keeps you alert. When you
win you think: “Great, we’ve won.” And we’d have surely done some things wrong, but you’re
relaxed. The only thing that winning is useful for is a good night’s sleep.’
Guardiola was well aware that two years without trophies caused a certain sense of urgency and

that a defeat against Sporting de Gijón the following week could leave Barcelona at the bottom of the
table, but was convinced that they would soon reap the rewards of their work in training. At the same
time as receiving criticism for the results, there were a number of influential voices in the media
arguing that Barcelona were playing well and they had got their title-winning hunger back. Johan
Cruyff wrote in El Periódico that it was ‘the best Barça side that he had seen in many years’.
Despite his confidence, Pep was in need of someone to reinforce his belief that all was well. He
decided to chat to Cruyff.

Guardiola has been fascinated by the figure of the coach since before he even realised he wanted to
be one. Of the many managers who have influenced Pep, few have had quite the profound impact upon

him as Johan Cruyff, the man who took his convictions to Barcelona and changed the whole structure
of the club. Cruyff introduced a bug that infected Guardiola and many others of his generation and his
impact upon FC Barcelona went far beyond that of simply a player or football coach. Guardiola
considers that Cruyff’s biggest miracle was to change a country’s mentality, convincing the whole of