Page 97 - Pep Guardiola: Another Way of Winning: The Biography

they had an important match three days later. Madrid had managed much more incredible comebacks
in the previous weeks and they were, after all, playing at the Bernabéu.
The second half kicked off. Madrid scored their second. 2-3.
It was the moment when many sides would have panicked, allowed the momentum to shift in favour

of the hosts. But Guardiola and his Barcelona players were not about to let that happen.
Thierry Henry made it 2-4.
Then came Barcelona’s fifth. The most magical of them all: Xavi performed a fantastic turn to lose
his markers, then passing to Messi who, with a feint, sent Casillas diving to ground prematurely,
before slotting home with a shot that passed the helpless keeper. 2-5.
And then there were six.
Messi released Eto’o with a ball into space out wide on the right, who fired in a cross that was met

by Gerard Piqué. That’s right: a centre half leading a counter-attack when his side had a three-goal
lead. 2-6.
Superiority in midfield, as predicted by Pep, was the key to the game. It was the happiest day of his
regime up to that point. The squad celebrated and hugged each other like never before. Xavi
remembers all the players bouncing around looking like a bunch of ‘teletubbies’, childish, uninhibited
exuberance in victory. Players took photos in the dressing room to immortalise the greatest moment in

a century of Madrid–Barça games. It was Barcelona’s very own cannon shot heard all around the
world, the moment when the football fans, players and pundits across the globe took notice that
something very special was taking place in a corner of Spain.
In the press room at the Bernabéu, Pep appeared more emotional than ever, truly moved by the
historic event that had just taken place. ‘It’s one of the happiest days of my life and I know we have
also made a lot of people happy.’
Iniesta remembers the celebrations well: ‘The craziest, as always, was Piqué, he didn’t stop

jumping and shouting. One of his favourite rituals is to connect his MP3 player to the aeroplane’s
loudspeaker on the way home and put music on full blast – ‘techno, ska, dance or whatever type of
loud music appeals to him at the time.’ Needless to say, the flight back to Barcelona that night was an
impromptu Piqué-inspired disco.
The crowds awaiting the players at Barcelona airport in the early hours of Sunday morning greeted
their returning heroes as if they were bringing home the trophy from a major cup final.

Guardiola, however, had to bring the players back down to earth almost immediately. He knew that
he would have to calm everybody down, then pick them back up for another monumental and season-
defining challenge: a Champions League semi-final against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge just three
days later.