I Think Therefore I Play Read Online Free PDF

batteries. Utterly refined, extremely long lasting.
    “Let’s talk again soon,” said Guardiola. “Have a safe journey back to Milan and let’s hope you’re not there for long.”
    “Thanks again. It’s been a very interesting chat.”
    I left his office in a daze. I was just about last onto the Milan team bus, but nobody took any notice. With their noses pressed up against the windows, lots of players were peering at the scene unfolding outside. Both curious and impressed, they watched Ibrahimovic walking his tightrope. At one end, Barcelona, and a fire that was dying out. At the other, Milan, and a spark turning into a flame.
    We were heading in different directions, Ibrahimovic and I. The world knew all about his situation, but nothing about mine. If these initial advances became a full-blown love affair, I’d wind up part of a truly great club and be thrown into a new challenge. I’d have liked that, a lot.
    The discussions went on for a while and, ultimately, Milan didn’t give in. I suppose it was always going to go like that. Back then, they still thought I had all my faculties and so they kept me, without ever getting involved in full-on negotiations. There were words, brief chats, a little bit of back and forth, but nothing more substantial.
    I’d have considered myself fortunate to be coached by Guardiola, because he really puts his stamp on teams. He builds them, moulds them, guides them, berates them, nurtures them. He makes them great. He takes them to a higher level; a place beyond mere football. Ibrahimovic thought he was insulting him when he called him ‘The Philosopher’, but when you think about it, that’s actually a nice compliment.
    Being a philosopher is to think, seek wisdom and have principles that guide and influence what you do. It’s to give meaning to things, find your way in the world, believe that in the end, in every instance, good will overcome evil even if there’s a bit of suffering along the way.
    Guardiola has taken all that and applied it to football, an imperfect science. He racked his brains and dispersed the fog, more through hard work than mere thought. What he’s achieved hasn’t been about miracles, rather a gentle programming of his players. His style is crèma catalana – easily digestible. It’s virtual reality mixed with real life; a swim between the shores of fantasy and reality with Estiarte by his side.
    In other words, we’re talking PlayStation.

Chapter 5
    Guardiola lives in a Zen-like corner of the PlayStation, an unused portion of the hard drive. It’s a secret room where shadows dance and on July 9, 2006, the day of the World Cup final, I camped out there as well.
    It’s a strange place – only a few people end up there, and even then only by chance. Mine was a rapid but unforgettable incursion, one that’s more difficult to understand than to recount.
    The situation completely possesses you. You feel like a prisoner, but also totally at ease. One minute you’re suffocating and the next you’re breathing in mountain air. You close your eyes and see a whole load of things, then you open them and the colours of the painting dissolve around you, re-emerging in different forms. The image loses its outline and your mind flies away, a hot air balloon swollen by a thousand thoughts, each of them dangerously heavy.
    I’ve got a fair few kilometres under my belt, but it’s the short distances that wear me out. They’re tests of your mental stamina rather than your speed. For Neil Armstrong, it was walking on the surface of the moon and, in my case, the ultra-green pitch of the Olympiastadion. 10
    Thinking about that World Cup final against France, there’s a moment that feels very much my own. When Marcello Lippi, the Italy coach, came up to me at the end of normal time, bells started to toll in my head. I’d actually have preferred the volume to be a bit louder, but the noise wasn’t sufficient to prevent the two words that great coach uttered