Pep Guardiola, his vision and his impact
Few managers think as deeply, even obsessively, about football as Pep Guardiola or act as decisively. In the early stages of the 2009 Champions League final on a hot, punishing night in Rome, his Barcelona side were being troubled by Manchester United. Guardiola responded cleverly, instantly reclaiming the initiative by moving Lionel Messi to a false 9 and sending Samuel Eto’o right. The tide turned. Messi dropped off, confusing United’s centre-backs, Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic, as he joined Andres Iniesta, Xavi and Sergio Busquets in midfield. United were outnumbered. Barcelona had the ball, control, soon the lead and eventually the trophy.
We spoke to United players afterwards and they were in awe of Messi, but it was also Guardiola’s quick reading of the situation and his master-stroke of a change that shaped the final. Guardiola played what the United midfielder Michael Carrick subsequently called “this game of dare to lure you out of position”. Faced with an elusive forward dropping deep, should Ferdinand and Vidic stick or twist? Guardiola set them the same conundrum two years later in the Wembley final. This time, Messi started as a false 9, again dropping off, again trying to entice one of United’s centre-halves out of position, creating space for Barcelona’s wide players David Villa and Pedro to exploit.
Vidic had a go at Carrick in the dressing room at half-time, demanding he stick closer to Messi. Carrick, a figure of calm rarely angered but annoyed here, hit back. “I’m trying to push on Iniesta, I can’t do Messi as well,” Carrick said. Under Guardiola, Barcelona were kings of the midfield overload.