Pep Guardiola: Another Way of Winning: The Biography Read Online Free PDF Page B

work is never done,’ Pep was often heard saying. But one morning, following one of those evenings in which Pep (‘a football freak’,
enfermo de
fútbol
, as he has lovingly been called by some of his star players) stayed at the training ground watching videos that had already been dissected and analysed by his colleagues, the
coaching staff saw him walk across the training ground looking under the weather. The enthusiastic Pep they had seen the previous day had made way for a silent Pep, whose words said one thing and
his sunken eyes another. ‘What’s wrong?’ one of his colleagues asked him. ‘Yesterday I should have gone to see my daughter in a ballet andI
couldn’t go.’ ‘Why not?’ his friend asked, surprised. ‘Because I was watching videos of our opponent.’
    ‘Look, every day I think that I’m leaving tomorrow,’ Guardiola said publicly two years into the job. ‘When you’re in charge of something, you always have to bear in
mind that you can leave. I work better thinking that I am free to decide my own future. Being tied to a contract for a long time distresses me and this can make you lose your passion. That is why I
sign year by year. If I could I would sign only for six months ... I have always thought that everything starts from looking for what you really like, which nowadays is the hardest thing to find.
Finding that is the essence of everything.’
    But that essence, in his last season, was eluding him: he was not even enjoying the big European nights, tormented by his worries and indecision. Should I continue? Is it better for Barcelona
for me to carry on or should I look for new messages, new solutions to keep people on their toes? How can I find new ways to give Leo Messi what he needs? And Iniesta and Cesc and Alvés? Can
I carry on with this for another month, another year? How do young coaches grow old having been successful so early? Wouldn’t it be better to find new horizons?
    Roman Abramovich had been aware of Guardiola’s anxieties for a few years and he wanted to take advantage of the situation. He pursued Pep persistently for two years before he left
Barcelona and tried to convince him on many occasions to take the reins at Stamford Bridge. After Ancelotti’s departure from Chelsea in the summer of 2011, the owner’s pursuit gained
momentum. André Villas-Boas was the fourth choice candidate to replace the Italian, behind Guus Hiddink, José Mourinho and Pep, who in February of that year had renewed his contract
for another season. In June, just before the start of Guardiola’s last season in charge of Barça, Abramovich, working through a middleman, invited Pep to be picked up by private
helicopter and whisked away to a meeting on his yacht in Monaco. ‘Stop telling me these things. I don’t want to meet Roman or I might have my head turned by him’ was Pep’s
polite answer. But Abramovich was going to come back during his final months in charge of Barcelona. On two occasions, he offered RafaBenítez a three-month deal to
finish the season after the sacking of André Villas-Boas: the Chelsea owner thought he could convince Pep to forget his sabbatical and take over at Stamford Bridge straight after leaving
Barcelona.
    The Chelsea owner’s last offer, before Pep Guardiola disappeared from the public eye at the end of the 2012 season, proposed the appointment of an interim manager for one season to leave
the Stamford Bridge door open for Pep a year later, wanting him to design the squad for the 2013–14 season as soon as he was ready.
    Chelsea had become the first club to actively try and seduce him. AC Milan and Inter would follow.
    There was a moment earlier on in the season that was to have an impact upon the squad dynamic for the remainder of the campaign. In the third league game, Pep left Messi on the
bench for the game against Real Sociedad in San Sebastián: he thought the player would be tired after returning from duties with the Argentine