Pep Confidential (43 page)

58

‘ARJEN’S A BEAST.’

Munich, April 9, 2014

IF YOU WANT to fully understand the essence of Pep Guardiola the coach, a football man through and through, it would be helpful to consider what is happening in his office at 11.15 this Wednesday night. It’s just 45 minutes since Bayern have secured their place in the semi-finals of the Champions League for the fourth time in five years. It is also the fifth time in five seasons that Guardiola himself has made it to that stage. This has been an enormous achievement and everyone is euphoric: players, supporters, directors, everyone is celebrating. Guardiola most of all. He’s given every one of his players a hug in the dressing room, had a chat with Uli Hoeness, who has come down to congratulate him and is just about to speak to the press. But first he does something rather bizarre for someone who has just won such an important game. In the midst of the dressing-room festivities, Pep turns to Manel Estiarte and asks him to get hold of a certain visitor.

Two minutes later Pep is shut up in his office with his guest and for 15 minutes the pair of them discuss one of Bayern’s three possible opponents in the semi-finals, going over the key elements of their playing style. Before he can allow himself to fully savour this victory he wants to prepare for the next battle and if he can get some first-hand pointers, so much the better. This is the real Pep in action: a man incapable of savouring his success because he’s too busy thinking about the next move.

And this has not been an easy victory despite the fact that everything happened exactly as Pep predicted. Bayern have gone out with the 2-3-3-2 formation, the full-backs next to Kroos, who tries to close down Rooney. Bayern control the ball and the first half, shooting at goal 13 times to United’s one. But United defend well. At half-time the Bayern technical analysis is just this: total domination but not enough of the free space with which to put the game to bed.

With the scoreboard at 0-0 at half-time Bayern are already on their way to the semi-finals except the minute things start looking good, Pep’s players ease up the pressure. It has happened before, in the Champions League against City and in the league against Mönchengladbach and Hoffenheim. This same sense of superiority assails them against United and, with the score at 0-0, with the German side poised to go through, the players sit back and concentrate only on maintaining control. Pep keeps waving his arms about. He wants more intensity, more pressure. He tells his men to play deeper, but it takes Patrice Evra’s thunderous shot past Neuer to deliver the sucker punch they need. In that instant, 56 minutes into the match, Bayern are facing elimination.

Suddenly they’re wide awake. Sixty-nine seconds later Ribéry and Götze cause havoc down the left and Müller draws both United centre-halves out of position, so Mandžukić only has to beat Evra in the air to equalise.

Right at this moment Pep modifies his plan, introducing Rafinha for Götze and putting Lahm and Götze in as double
pivotes
. Within about 10 minutes Bayern, with the brakes off, have completely overwhelmed United with goals from Müller and Robben. It’s so impressive that Pep turns to the fans in the Allianz to demand an ovation for his players.

It’s midnight before he finally makes it to the team restaurant, where he hugs his three children and gives his wife a long, lingering kiss. He’s starving, as he always is after a game. Tonight he goes for his favourite meal, marinated salmon, and as soon as he’s finished his first serving he’s up for another. ‘Extra pepper please,’ he tells the cook. Instead of his usual glass of champagne, he asks for two. ‘No, bring me four glasses. Or the whole bottle.’

Post-match Pep. But tonight is special. He’s through to his fifth Champions League semi-final. Five out of five. He has never gone out before this stage. The dinner becomes a detailed match replay. He points out what they did well and the mistakes they made, the guys who played brilliantly and those that were somewhat below par.

‘Arjen’s a beast. A beast. Rafinha was first class, he was completely focused the second he left the bench. That’s the mark of an outstanding player. And what about Kroos? Tremendous Toni. A year ago he was playing like a second striker and today he marked Rooney out of the game playing as a holding midfielder. Rooney! I’m so proud of my men.’

I remind him how difficult it was for Bayern to break down the English defence.

‘Of course it was. What else did you expect? They’re a brilliant team. I was pleased with our 2-3-3-2, but it was definitely rough finding spaces. We only managed it in the first half thanks to Robben and then it came much more easily in the second half.’

I also point out that Bayern had had the brakes on right up until Evra’s goal. ‘You’re right, completely right and I don’t really understand why. We’ve had a chat with Lahm and he can’t explain it either. Sometimes things just happen and there’s no real explanation.’

Pep is in full flow. He’s in ideas mode, analysing the game whilst at the same time describing how they’ll deal with whoever they face next. He’d prefer Atlético.

‘And if you make it to the final?’

‘It won’t matter, as long as we make it. And I hope we do – for Thiago.’

In the early hours of the morning Pep will leave the stadium with his daughter Valentina asleep in his arms. He’ll struggle to get to sleep, but will be up and working in his office by 8.30am, reviewing his plans for his next league opponents, the great Borussia Dortmund.

Training will be held on Pitch No.2 and will be a relaxed and playful affair although, as always, Pep will draw a halt to the jokes early on. This is an open session, although the men who played against United are out of sight on Pitch No.1, doing
rondo
drills. In one of them Dante is nutmegged and is roundly teased, at high volume. It’s all laughs and jokes. The high jinks get out of hand however and Pep, annoyed by all the hilarity, comes straight over and demands that the players calm down and show some respect for the supporters who have come along to Säbener Strasse. The starters then complete the session, which consists of a dozen 60-metre runs, done at a light tempo, in front of the watching public and in complete silence.

59

‘I DON’T CONSIDER MYSELF A GOOD COACH.’

Munich, April 12, 2014

GUARDIOLA STARTED WITH a defeat in Dortmund, in the German Super Cup on July 27, 2013, and today, eight-and-a-half months later, his team slips up once more against the same opponents. This time it’s a league game in Munich. It’s fitting that it should be Jürgen Klopp to bring his great rival down to earth, although the German coach is at pains to point out that: ‘Pep isn’t my rival. I’m up against another 16 teams, so in reality each of us has 17 rivals, not just one.’

Klopp very kindly delays his departure from the Allianz Arena to spend some time evaluating Guardiola’s style: ‘He has an incredible ability for developing his teams. His style of play is very complex, really very complex. It’s unique and extremely difficult to combat. He did it in Barcelona and he’s doing it here in Munich.’

But the Dortmund coach sees Pep’s great strength, above and beyond his style of play, as his ability to maintain his teams’ competitive spirit at a consistent level. ‘He does something that is very, very difficult. It’s phenomenally hard to be consistently enthusiastic about and focused on your next game, particularly when you are so successful. It’s struck me on several occasions this year. The most important thing that Pep has achieved, quite apart from playing brilliant football, has been to maintain this consistent, high-tempo rhythm, one game after another, going from one day to the next. That’s what’s so hard. But he’s done it, and I don’t think they’re going to stop.’

Klopp is delighted. Dortmund have won 3-0 at the Allianz Arena, matching Pep’s result in Dortmund at the end of November 2013. Of course it doesn’t have the same significance. In Dortmund they were still battling for the league and now in Munich there is nothing left to salvage, save some pride. But for Bayern it is a blow. Just one more setback in a month full of moments of weakness.

There seems little wrong with Pep’s match plan. He puts out a 2-3-2-3 formation in which Rafinha, Lahm and Alaba are the first line of midfielders with Schweinsteiger and Götze the inside-forwards in front of them. If Dortmund close Lahm when he attempts to bring the ball out it is Rafinha who takes over, and does so very well. It’s all going swimmingly until Bayern fail to defend a throw-in. Dortmund produce one of their lightning-fast moves which ends up with Mjitaryán scoring. The goal seems to cloud the vision of Pep’s players even before Neuer goes off with a tight calf muscle in the second half. Within a few minutes, one counter-attack and one long ball add two more goals, thus rounding off a bitter experience which has thrown up a number of weaknesses.

We are talking about much more than one or two details. The decline is more serious than that. Bayern are in freefall with only a week-and-a-half to go before they face Real Madrid in the Champions League semi-finals. There are players out through injury (Thiago, Neuer and Shaqiri), Ribéry and Götze are having problems and Schweinsteiger and Mandžukić are a bit off form, too. Team spirit has been affected and the players feel like they’ve lost control. The process of decompression after winning the league has led to a loss of identity at the most decisive stage of the season. The momentum has gone, that state of grace teams experience when they are on peak form.

For me it’s fascinating to see how Pep behaves in the face of defeat. This is not something he has much experience of. In his 303 games as a first-division coach (four years at Barcelona and one at Bayern), he has only lost 27 games. On average, one defeat every 11 games.

These defeats add dimension to the victories and it is no accident that one of his bedside books is
Saber perder
(Knowing how to lose) by his friend, the filmmaker David Trueba. For him defeat is also a catharsis, a revelation. As the journalist Isaac Lluch explained to me one evening, referring to Bayern’s defeat in the Super Cup, it is a necessity. ‘Starting off with a defeat gives Pep the right element of epic drama, exactly what any hero needs as he embarks on his quest.’

There’s always a fall simply because, amongst other reasons, every success is built from the ashes of previous defeat, as long as the reasons for the defeat are properly and clearly assimilated.

Bayern have lost in monumental fashion. The 3-0 trouncing in the Allianz Arena has been particularly hard to take because this time Guardiola chose not to field a weaker team. Unlike the recent defeat in Augsburg when the Bayern line-up was mainly substitutes and youth team players, this time he used his key men. And he had also worked hard on his own analysis of the opposition. All for nothing. Klopp’s Dortmund has been the better team.

In the post-match press conference Pep is much more forthcoming than usual. He gets on well with Klopp and is happy to publicly congratulate him. He also accepts the errors he and his team have made and recognises that it is vital for them to regain the competitive form they displayed before winning the league. As he makes his way through the Allianz Arena’s corridors he stops for every fan who asks for an autograph or a photo. He smiles, apparently completely untroubled by the defeat.

Once inside the Players’ Lounge he greets his players and their families warmly but I pick up on one principal difference tonight: he eats with his wife Cristina. It may just be coincidence but I suspect it is more significant than that. Usually Pep gets to the restaurant and immediately hugs his kids, Valentina, Màrius and Maria. He kisses and cuddles them before embracing Cristina and spending a couple of minutes with her. Then he’s off talking to friends and acquaintances or the players’ families who want a photo with him. It is only much later that he will spend time with his family.

But today things are different. He sits down beside Cristina and, instead of champagne, orders a glass of red wine. I’m sitting at the next table but get the impression that Pep needs some time alone with his partner to process what has happened. Before he can pick himself up he needs time to mourn his loss, to withdraw for a while and share his private feelings, rather than his professional thoughts.

And so, for about 30 minutes, nobody goes near his table, as if the whole room is aware that Pep needs some quiet time. In the end it is his own children who interrupt his introspection by announcing that Barça have lost in Granada and may well have missed out on winning the Spanish league. By now the restaurant is almost empty. A frustrated Arjen Robben gives his own take on the defeat: the team needs to regain their hunger if they are to have any chance of making it to the Champions League final.

Pep’s quiet time is over and Cristina has obviously helped him recharge his batteries. Glass in hand, he moves to another table and is once more the enthusiastic Pep we know so well, full of energy and chat.

‘I messed up.’

Initially I assume that he’s referring to a tactical error but I’m wrong. He’s actually talking about his management of the team’s success.

‘You are nobody if you’re only giving 95%. That includes me. This isn’t false modesty. I am a complete nobody if I’m not performing at my very, very best. And I’ll tell you another thing. I don’t consider myself a good coach. I know you won’t believe me and that people will think it’s false modesty but it’s honestly what I believe. I have so many doubts, I worry about everything and am secure about nothing. But there is one thing I am sure of. I messed up. We thought we were the greatest and our decline started that day in Berlin [when they won the Bundesliga]. It hasn’t been a gentle decline, no, we’ve gone right off the rails.’

Màrius and Maria come over to listen to their father, interrupting occasionally to ask a question, but Pep presses on. ‘Praise actually makes you weaker. It happens to us all. I went soft after Berlin. They asked me to cancel training the next day and I agreed. I wanted to avoid injuries so we stopped doing full on 11-against-11 matches in training. And we fucked it up. I was trying to stop them getting injured and what I actually did was turn my players soft. And we’re nobodies if we turn soft. That’s not a tactical problem. This team played 53 games without a loss, under Jupp and me, using a thousand different tactics. 53 matches, with injuries, with key players missing, using different tactics and we didn’t lose a game. What we did was run. We ran ourselves into the ground. And then we stopped running. It’s got nothing to do with tactics!’