Page 95 - Pep Guardiola: Another Way of Winning: The Biography

ahead of a match in which the Barcelona fans were allowing their natural pessimism to creep in and
suspect that the worst might happen. But Pep was not only calling the changes on a footballing level,
he was transforming the way the culés felt about themselves, restoring their pride and injecting
optimism into a culture that always anticipated that things would go wrong for them in the end. On the

eve of the game, Pep was having none of this talk of a draw. He was going to the Bernabéu to win: to
take the game to the home side and to beat them playing it his way. ‘We won’t speculate or leave it to
fate. We will not relinquish all that we have been this year. When we return from the Bernabéu, I
want it to have been all about us,’ Pep told his squad.
If Madrid’s run of form had dictated that the league was going to be decided at the Bernabéu,
Barcelona were going to accept the challenge. Their arch rivals were breathing down their necks,
piling the pressure on the novice coach and his emerging team; but it was a scenario that Guardiola

relished rather than shirked: ‘I want the pressure. It is ours and I want it. And if something happens
and we lose, so be it: it is a final and finals should be played with ambition.’
As the Barcelona players made their way down the tunnel, towards the short flight of steps that
would take them up and out on to the Bernabéu pitch, and into a cauldron of noise and unbridled
hostility, they had Pep’s final word’s ringing in their ears above the din: ‘We have come here to win!
And at the Bernabéu there is only one way of winning: be brave!’

Earlier that season, in the first Clásico of the 2009 campaign, Guardiola’s Barcelona had beaten Real
Madrid 2-0. But the victory had not been as comfortable as the scoreline suggests: Drenthe had a

chance to score the first goal before Eto’o and then Messi sealed the win for the hosts. It is still
remembered as a special night, not only because it was Pep’s first Clásico as coach, but also because
of his reaction to the victory. The expression on Pep’s face told the story – he had momentarily
become a player again, basking in the euphoria of an adoring Camp Nou. He could not hide the fact
that his eyes had welled up with the emotion of it all, while the enduring image of Víctor Valdés and
his coach locked in bear hug summed up the bond that was being forged between this extraordinary
group of players and their manager.

However, if that moment was special, it was merely a warm-up for the performance at the
Bernabéu the following May. A night that would surpass all expectations.
The stifling early summer heat in Madrid that Saturday afternoon was particularly unbearable when
the teams arrived at the Bernabéu. Pep’s preparations were complicated by the loss of Rafa Márquez
to injury and the impending trip to Stamford Bridge just three days later for the second leg of the

semi-finals of the Champions League that would follow a frustrating 0-0 at the Camp Nou. With a win
at the Bernabéu significant, but not essential, speculation was rife that Pep might even rest some
players with an eye on the game in London.
No chance.
Pep had made one thing clear all week: the league was going to be won that night, in the enemy’s
backyard. And, to do that, Guardiola selected his strongest line-up available: Víctor Valdés, Abidal,
Dani Alvés, Piqué, Puyol, Xavi, Touré, Samuel Eto’o, Henry, Messi and Iniesta.
Pep had analysed Real Madrid in detail and, an hour and a half before the game, he got Messi,

Xavi and Iniesta together: ‘You three against Lass and Gago have got the game. If you do it right,
three against two, we’ve beaten them.’ The plan was crystal clear. Lass and Gago were going to find
a third man to defend, Messi would position himself as a false striker in between the centre backs and
those two.