Pep Confidential (26 page)

Ten days later they faced Hannover 96 once again, but this time in a one-off cup game. ‘I prefer using this system in Germany, not Spain [where the Copa del Rey is played largely over two-legged ties], because every cup game is a final here. It’s much higher risk but much more attractive like this. And it’s positive for the players because 11 straight months of competition is a barbarity and we need to place emphasis on the quality of the matches we ask them to play, rather than augment the quantity of them.’

Mirko Slomko was Hannover coach at that time (by Christmas he would be out, replaced by Tayfun Korkut) and had previously commented that any German team could inflict the perfect counter-attack in less than 11 seconds. Pep disagreed. ‘I think it’s even quicker than Mirko says. This league is remarkable in terms of counter-attacks. In Spain there are great sides which hit you with good counters but I’ve never seen anywhere to equal the Bundesliga for the number of teams who can hit you with so many effective, massively quick counter-attacks.’

Bayern beat Hannover 4-1, notwithstanding a continuing irregularity in their play. They went ahead quickly and played with real aggression to ensure there was no chance of a counter-attack. But once they reached 2-0 they relaxed and conceded a number of dangerous chances from which the visitors might have scored.

Bayern had dozed off again and Pep was angry. The second half saw the usual reaction and they confirmed their passage to the quarter-finals with two more goals. ‘In the first half we committed a novice error,’ he explained. ‘All the attacking passes we made were inside, instead of playing them wide. If you play the ball inside and Hannover nick the ball from you then – pam! – they’ve got a well-organised counter-attack on a plate. In the second half we corrected that.’

It was almost 100 days since Pep arrived at Bayern and the coach was willing to weigh things up. ‘I’m happy. My German isn’t great yet but my players give me loads of help with it. I still haven’t learned to express myself that well, and get through to them easily, but they have a brilliant attitude towards training. I see all the details in my players which convince me that we are capable of playing really well. Those are the moments which make me really happy.’

In the corridor outside the Allianz Arena dressing room we talk to Rafinha, the Brazilian full-back who, with Lahm’s move to central midfield, has become first choice at the back. He’s constantly got a joke on the go and he refers to himself as a
canterano
(academy product) knowing that Pep just loves to play
canteranos
in his teams. Rafinha says: ‘Pep explains himself pretty well in German and when he hits difficulties both Pizarro and I are there for him to translate from Spanish into German.’

One of the technical team comments: ‘Rafinha is just about the most important member of the team right now. If he got injured we’d have to really conjure up a solution.’

That’s how it is. Rafinha allows Lahm to play as organising midfielder, something which has been vital to the team’s performance. Rafinha’s full of beans. ‘How do you think I’m going to be with Pep? Enjoying life, that’s how! Last year there were 11 players who got 50-plus games each, with the rest playing 15 or maybe 20 at best. Now things are much more shared around and it’s logical that if you are playing more you’re happier. It was time for change. Jupp was terrific and he got us playing well, but our opponents really got to know us and how we like to do things. Now we play a bit differently and that’s a good thing. For the full-backs it’s a big deal because we have permission to insert ourselves into an attacking move wherever it seems best to do. We can move inside, go outside, and we are allowed almost constant licence to attack.’

Guardiola is delighted with how Lahm is doing as Bayern’s organising midfielder. ‘He’s played incredibly well in that position. I know that when all our players are fit Philipp could return to full-back but perhaps he’ll remain as our
pivote
. He’s a fabulous player.’

A few days later, during a training session behind closed doors, he’ll add a few more details about his captain. ‘Lahm is incredibly intelligent. He takes all the information in immediately. He’s very quick, mentally, and he reads the game well in advance of things actually happening. He’s as football-intelligent as Iniesta.’

Another player who constantly talks to Pep is Bastian Schweinsteiger. ‘Pep’s really clever, which makes training with him very interesting and enriching,’ said Schweinsteiger. ‘The language? Well, German is a very tough language for foreigners to learn, so when Pep began his time here by speaking in our language it was to his great merit. In a face-to-face conversation he communicates perfectly. Maybe when he’s instructing a group it’s a little tougher for him to manage it perfectly – it’s not quite as clear as face-to-face.’

Pep has changed a great deal in the three months he’s been in Munich. He has already given an interview to the club magazine. In the future he will do the same for Bayern’s television station. He will attend, and enjoy, the famous Oktoberfest, he will be the star of an advert to promote the beer which sponsors Bayern (and he’ll do it in
lederhosen
). In general he’ll seem much more relaxed than at Barcelona, partly because the people around this club help that atmosphere a bit more than at the Camp Nou, but partly, also, because of his own personal evolution.

The objective over the next couple of weeks is that the team copes with Oktoberfest without difficulties. It’s a time in the calendar which, traditionally, can hinder Bayern and their new coach wants to make sure that they get through it without messing up. He wants to remain competitive in the league, not giving an inch to Dortmund and to be ultra-firm in the Champions League. Right now they are progressing in the cup despite the midfield absences of Javi Martínez, Mario Götze and Thiago. Domènec Torrent, the assistant coach, makes it clear: ‘Götze is fantastic. Pep’s full of enthusiasm for him because he’s technically excellent, he’s agile and, above all, he’s got the calm intelligence that we require. When he and Thiago play together they’ll be absolutely formidable.’

33

‘FOR 80 MINUTES WE PLAYED PERFECT FOOTBALL – THE BEST FOOTBALL I’VE SEEN IN MY LIFE.’

Manchester, October 2, 2013

A GRAND TOTAL of 94 consecutive passes across three minutes and 27 seconds was emblematic of the ‘taking of Manchester’ – a night when Bayern conquered the Etihad Stadium and Pep Guardiola was finally able to smile in satisfaction. Inevitably, Bayern’s play in this 3-1 win at the home of Manchester City drew to mind that of Barça on that remarkable night in 2010 when they hammered Mourinho’s Real Madrid 5-0 at the Camp Nou.

Those 94 passes marked a special moment in European football. The reigning champions were in an intimidating and formidable football stadium, City had bought notable reinforcements during the close season and their coach was the excellent Manuel Pellegrini – unbeaten at home until that point.

Everything went right for Bayern for 80 sweet minutes. They were almost perfect – it was the game in which Pep proved to himself that he could get a team to play with the agility and quality of Barcelona without actually having those
Azulgrana
players. All along, everyone, including Guardiola, had strenuously attempted to be clear that this wasn’t supposed to be Barça 2.0.

Arjen Robben summed up the feelings of the dressing room: ‘We have produced 80 fantastic minutes but we aren’t Barcelona MkII. I understand the comparisons but we don’t have players like Xavi or Messi and we are, basically, different. We just want to dominate games by dominating possession.’

Before speaking to the media, Guardiola is in the dressing room and takes time to phone a friend: ‘Calm, and feet on the ground kiddo, but …
what
an exhibition! What an
exhibition
!’

It is one of his all-time great moments as a coach. Bayern applied all the key things which Guardiola has been demanding: constantly looking to break into the penalty box, using possession aggressively, playing with constant fluidity and mobility.

The game will live with Guardiola forever because it is the first time ‘his’ Bayern has played in the manner he had imagined. Naturally, in front of the media he plays things down. ‘We have lots to improve.’

The last 10 minutes were totally dominated by City who, with the introduction of Álvaro Negredo, turned around their timid game. They beat Neuer once, hit the bar and left the Bayern defence, from which Boateng was removed by a late red card, floundering.

Bayern had arrived in Manchester suffering from a certain anxiety. Their penultimate match, in the Bundesliga against Wolfsburg in Munich, had been complicated. Bayern won 1-0 but it was probably the trickiest day of the first three months of the season. Apart from a few minutes in the second half, when the team found its tempo and flooded forward in attack, Bayern were flat. Wolfsburg defended extraordinarily well and Pep couldn’t find a way to break them down. His players shot at goal only 11 times. With such a test on the horizon, it did not inspire confidence.

For the game in Manchester, Müller is chosen ahead of Mandžukić as the central striker. Lahm is already the chosen central midfielder, the man around whom the team’s play revolves. Schweinsteiger has materialised into the role of attacking midfielder and plays with much more fluidity than he did as the
pivote
. Partly that is because he’s still not fully recovered from his ankle problems. There’s a slight limp. That type of constant pain undermines a player, decreases his absolute confidence on the ball. If he’s the attacking midfielder he can afford to be more expansive in his play, to be more creative and to take more risks. He’s got less to fear should he lose the ball. The pieces are falling into place for Guardiola.

The Bayern goals come from their three forward players. Ribéry repeats his jink into space and fierce shot which squared the score against Chelsea in the Super Cup. Müller is terrific in losing Gael Clichy, who is over-run, in order to hit the second, after which Bayern string together a succession of passes over 40 seconds which leaves their rival in tatters. After Kroos robs the ball back in the centre circle, Robben zig-zags around so much that he leaves Matija Nastasic sea-sick and scores with a right-foot shot.

Pellegrini’s side has just whipped Manchester United 4-1, but for a while it’s like Bayern are making them dance. The shielding players, the formidable Yaya Touré and Fernandinho, are tied up by Ribéry, Müller, Robben and Schweinsteiger over and over again. Along with Kroos, they give a recital in how to control possession, so disorientating the home players that the Spanish TV commentator, Gaby Ruiz, a specialist in German football, says: ‘For the City players, what we are seeing is a little embarrassing. In fact, City are hauling up the white flag of surrender.’

Then, in the 65th minute, Bayern lay on a gigantic
rondo –
a succession of passes which astonishes the world of football for its precision, speed and duration. During nearly three-and-a-half minutes, Bayern put together 94 passes involving all 10 outfield players. The team pass the ball for more than 200 seconds during which time the Etihad Stadium goes silent and the City players pretty much surrender. During this succession of passes the ball bounces off the English defenders twice, it is deflected by Clichy once and Jesús Navas wins it back once, but manages to keep it in City’s possession for only seven seconds before Lahm robs it back with a brilliant tackle. All in all it’s so spectacular that that very night various YouTube users put all 3 minutes 27 seconds up on the internet – sometimes with accelerated motion and accompanied by the theme tune from The Benny Hill Show. The giant
rondo
sums up what Pep has been asking his players to learn how to do. The stats tell the story: Toni Kroos passes the ball 18 times in this one action, then Robben (14), Schweinsteiger (13), Ribéry (12), Rafinha (11) and Lahm (10). The defenders and centre-forward have been involved slightly less – Boateng (7 passes), Alaba (6), Müller (2), Dante (1). If the performances of the midfielders have been memorable (Kroos and Schweinsteiger both boast 95% pass accuracy), the exhibition laid on by Müller leaves Pep speechless. Even more than fulfilling the essence of the false 9, he has given a fluid forward display, flitting in and out of all the attacking positions and popping up where he is least expected.

Müller’s performance is the microcosm of a triumph where the team has shown all of its variety: mixing the long and short games, moving possession at high speed, pressing very aggressively high up the pitch, winning the ball high up, winning the majority of tackles they attempt and completing almost all their passes. They pretty much kidnap the ball – and always in order to do damage to City. In fact it’s an exhibition which blends the midfield play Pep has been demanding with an attack in the style of Heynckes’ Bayern.

And the display unleashes a stream of praise. Michael Owen talks about his amazement at ‘this great exhibition’. Franco Baresi, the former Milan and Italy captain, talks about ‘a great level of super-positive football with everyone participating, and which is great fun to watch’. Rio Ferdinand says: ‘It was hard to imagine the Bayern which won the treble improving but Pep is achieving just that.’

The then Bayern president, Uli Hoeness, glows: ‘For 80 minutes we played perfect football – the best football I’ve seen in my life.’

During the post-match dinner which Bayern always lays on for players, coaches, sponsors and media, whether they win or lose, Kalle Rummenigge sums it all up in just a few words: ‘A fiesta for the eyes.’

The applause of the City fans, who months later will see their team crowned Premier League champions, is the greatest compliment for a Bayern team which, despite that praise, has shown some deficiencies. They shoot on goal 20 times but continue to show this strange lack of clinical edge. They relax again, and once more show a lack of defensive organisation when they do so. During those last 10 minutes City are all over them and deserve more than just the goal which Negredo scores.