Page 88 - Pep Guardiola: Another Way of Winning: The Biography

dependent upon where the ball is and we haven’t respected that. We haven’t done that well yet,’ Pep
kept repeating and Txiki agreed. ‘Txiki, the best way of defending well is attacking well and I have to
get the players to see that.’
Nobody within the club was demanding Pep’s head just yet. Externally there were those who saw

the results as evidence that his promotion from the B team had been a mistake, the sign of a board in
turmoil that wanted to paper over the cracks with the appointment of a legendary player but an
inexperienced coach. Joan Laporta was holding his breath and repeating that Pep just needed time,
hoping that all that was wrong with the side was that he couldn’t handle more pressure.
In the bottom three of the league, Guardiola’s FC Barcelona travelled to Sporting Gijón’s
legendary Molinon stadium for the third game of the season. The Sporting fans had not seen the
Catalans since 1997 when Guardiola was Barcelona’s playmaking number four and the standard-

bearer for the team’s style of play. There were long silences on the team coach that took them to the
stadium but the technical chat had already been given in the hotel. Despite victory being essential,
nothing changed the coach’s ideology and its practicalities. He would give his all for this cause, he
knew the truth – he had the line-up and the tactics that guaranteed control and pressure high up.
Just before kick-off, Pep Guardiola crossed paths with Manuel Preciado, the Sporting coach, who
sadly died of a heart attack in the summer of 2012. The older, more experienced manager had already

heard the changes Pep wanted to make to the first eleven and had some warm words of comfort for
the novice, and understood the enormous pressures faced by his younger opponent on that day: ‘Stick
to your principles, Pep. If Busquets or whoever needs to be brought on, they should be brought on.
You must be brave in order to defend your ideas.’
Sergio Busquets was named in the line-up for the second game running.
Piqué smiles when he remembers where Barcelona’s fortunes were about to change. ‘I treasure a
lovely memory of the encounter with Sporting in the Molinon. That day signified the takeoff.’

The game started. From the kick-off, ten players touched the ball, all except Messi. There were
thirty passes in two minutes that terminated near the corner flag and with a foul on Iniesta. Those
opening exchanges were a statement of intent. The team kept jabbing away at Sporting like a boxer:
two consecutive corner kicks, two balls recovered near the rival’s box, a Xavi shot on goal. Only
four minutes gone.
The team used the space patiently and cleverly, Xavi found many lines of passing, the ball fizzed

about at a high tempo, every touch of it was sharp and positive. Henry was ill and Iniesta played on
the left. Eto’o started as number nine but he often appeared on the right wing, allowing Messi to move
freely in the centre. Those tactics were to be repeated during the season.
Sporting thought that using a close-combat style against a faltering Barcelona team was going to
give them a chance, but once the first goal arrived there was no way back.
When the team filed into the changing room at half-time, already 0-2 up, Pep demanded a moment
of attention. He needed to give only one instruction, a simple reminder but a key instruction: ‘We will

continue pressing high up,’ he said. The order was followed. In the second half, Sporting found that
the Barcelona half was much further away and beyond their reach than the naked eye would have you
believe.
Barcelona beat Sporting 1-6.
‘You’ve surpassed us,’ Manuel Preciado conceded when, at the end of the game, he met with
Guardiola on the way to the dressing rooms. ‘We’ve taken a step forward,’ replied Pep.

The next day, at the training ground, one of Pep’s assistants gave him a photocopy with some of the
stats of the game. Pep’s smile was difficult to control. Apart from Messi, who scored twice, all the