JOSEP “PEP” GUARDIOLA

________________________________________________________________________________


He was born to a poor family in Sant Pedor on January 18, 1971.  Barcelona arranged for his education and practically  adopted him by inviting him to join La Masia at the age of 13.



Described as a midfielder of excellent technique and great vision, Guardiola arrived at La Masia in June 1984 from Gimnastic Manresa and started playing in the youth ranks until 1990.



Pep, or “Pepe” as Samuel Eto’o called him, also worked previously as a ballboy at the Camp Nou, his picture as an 11 year-old standing alongside Barcelona player Victor Munoz being now part of club history.



In 1991, Barcelona’s then first team coach Dutchman Johan Cruyff plucked him out of  the youth team and put him in charge of his midfield, a decision which at the time was viewed as sheer lunacy, even an act of cruelty – many believed Cruyff had set up an inexperienced and fragile 19 year-old for failure. Phil Ball, in his the famous book on Spanish football, Morbo, narrates how Cruyff discovered Guardiola and made him the “fulcrum” of his Dream Team:

    ‘In his first week at the club, Cruyff turned up unannounced at the ‘Mini’ stadium, a venue just down the road from Camp Nou used by the youth and B teams. Just before half-time he wandered into the dug-out and asked Charly Rexach, the youth team manager at the time, the name of the young skinny lad playing on the right side of migfield. ‘Guardiola – good lad’ came the reply. Cruyff ignored the comment and told Rexach to move him into the middle for the second half, to play as pivot, a difficult position to adapt to and one not used by many teams in Spain at the time. ‘Pep’ Guardiola adjusted immediately, as Cruyff had suspected he would, and when he moved up into the first-team in 1990 he became the true fulcrum of the Dream Team.’



Within a year of moving up from the reserves, Pep had proved his and Cruyff’s doubters wrong in emphatic fashion. The Dream Team won Barcelona its first European cup in a season which also marked the first time that Guardiola would win La Liga with the Catalan club (Real Madrid was felled by Tenerife on the final day of competition). He also received the Bravo Award for most promising European player of the year.



As a player supposedly with the clearest tactical vision and  a masterful touch equaled only by Laudrup , Guardiola was soon calling the shots and transmitting Cruyff’s complex ideas to a team made up  of  Basques – Zubizaretta, Bakero, Beguiristain, Goikoetchea –  foreigners – Koeman, Laudrup and Stoichkov,  and Catalans – Guardiola, Ferrer, Sergi, and Nadal.  Later, the term “classic Number 4” would be used to refer to the playing  style and position which Guardiola  had made his trademark.



Pep was said to have endeared himself to team and fans not only with his youth but also with his infectious enthusiasm. He would often celebrate the  team’s victories by wrapping himself in the Catalan flag, argued passionately for Catalonia’s national team,  and read Catalan poets like his favorite Miguel Marti i Pol.  Even then, and in much the same way as Carles Puyol is now, his love for and commitment to the club could not be questioned.



Under Cruyff, the Dream Team would win the Spanish League 3 times, with their victory during the 1993/94 season handed to them on a plate by Canarian club Tenerife who would repeat its win over Real Madrid on final match day. Cruyff’s team would however suffer a heartbreaking 4-0 loss against Fabio Capello’s AC Milan in the 1994 Champions League final in Athens, which many believed signaled their decline.



When Cruyff left in 1996, Englishman Bobby Robson took over the reins at the Catalan club and steered Barcelona to three titles – the Copa del Rey, UEFA Super Cup, and Cups’ Winners Cup. Guardiola retained his position at the center of play but by then, most members of the Dream Team had been replaced by new signings – among them, Ronaldo and Luis Figo.



Figo and Guardiola struck a fast friendship, and Figo’s subsequent departure for Real Madrid years later (coupled with Laudrup’s move earlier), was both a professional and personal loss to Guardiola. The two remained friends, however. It is said that in 2001, a year after he bolted Barcelona in favor of its fiercest rival, Figo sneaked back into the city to visit Pep when the latter’s daughter was born.



Another Dutchman, LouisVan Gaal, replaced Robson as coach in 1997, and Guardiola, who had been captain for a few years, replacing Jose Mari Bakero, won three more Spanish league titles with the team, including one during its centenary season (1998/99).  Criticisms against him were becoming commonplace, however.  Some quarters, who resented his growing  influence with the players, began spreading malicious rumors about him.  In 2000, he was seriously injured while on training with the Spanish selection and forced into a long recovery, fueling talks that he had contracted a dread disease and would never play again.



Notably, it was during the Van Gaal years that some of the players who are still in the current team would emerge, among them Carles Puyol and  Xavi, who debuting at 18, started covering for the often injured Guardiola.  Xavi, Andres Iniesta and Cesc Fabregas would, in later years, admit that Guardiola was their boyhood hero,  the latter two even saying that as youngsters, they had posters of Pep at their La Masia quarters. Xavi, who is said to be Guardiola’s heir apparent in the team, once said :

    "Pep’s almost got a sickness for football. He never stops or draws breath. He just works, studies, researches and then he’s on the players like a hungry hawk."



Guardiola soon found himself increasingly  in conflict with certain personalities at the club. Disillusioned and exhausted with holding together a fractured dressing room, he finally announced in an emotional press conference in April 2001,  that he would not be renewing his contract. True to his word,  he walked out at the end of the 2000/01 season. Catalan paper El Pais  editorialized Pep’s departure by saying:

    "(To replace Guardiola) Barcelona need to find another footballer who is Catalan to the core, telegenic, with a gift for words and people, able to recite poetry and have the sense of humour needed to be spokesman for a bunch of crickets."



He made his last appearance in a match against Scottish side Celtic on June 24, 2001.  By the time he left  the team of his life  at the age of 31, he had become the player with the most league wins in its history. Guardiola played 379 games, out of which 224 were won, 82 drew and 73 lost. In his 12 seasons with the first team, Pep won 16 titles in all.



After playing his last game for Barcelona, Guardiola made a late night visit with his family to bid Camp Nou a private goodbye.  He spent many years away from his boyhood club playing at various clubs – Brescia Calcio and AS Roma (half a season) in Italy, Al-Ahli in Qatar where he reportedly served as player-coach, and Mexican club Dorados de Sineloa. He retired as a professional player in November 2006.  On June 21, 2007, after completing his course in coaching, Guardiola returned to his beloved club as coach of Barcelona’s B team.  Under his leadership, Barca B won the Spanish Third Division championship and was promoted to the Segunda Division.  After only a year with Barca B, on June 17, 2008, Guardiola succeeded Frank Rijkaard as manager of the Barcelona senior squad. And the rest, as they say, is history…

Catalan sports tabloid Sport, report that Barca are looking to replace second choice keeper Jose Manuel Pinto with Chilean international Claudio Bravo (26).

The Barcelona staff still regard Victor Valdes as their undisputed first choice, but they are seeking a more secure back-up. Their main target is Claudio Bravo of Real Sociedad.

The keeper is Marcelo Bielsa’s first choice for the Chilean national team, and has only let in 16 goals in 16 games in Liga Adelante this season. It is to be noted though that Bravo has only just extended his deal with Real Sociedad to 2013.

Barcelona have apparently been tracking the market for a keeper who is both good coming off the line and with the ball at his feet and Bravo seems to fit both those aspects.

PROVOCATIVE, AGGRESSIVE AND COCKY

Ronaldo can’t stand pressure.

A one-game suspension is not enough! The Competition Committee will decide today the punishment, which could be from a one-game ban to a three-game ban.

24/1: Sent off for elbowing Mitilga

16/1: Insulted several rival players and faced the spectators.

5/12: Sent off for kicking a rival player and taking his jersey off.

Messi, the sportsman with the best image. A publicitary study puts him ahead of Cristiano Ronaldo.

Godall presents the most continuist candidacy.

IT WAS AN AGRESSION

Madrid puts pressure on the Competition Committee to make their sentence the lightest possible.

The Competition Committee will judge today, but won’t consider the elbow blow as a gross misconduct.

Instead of a four to twelve -game suspension, the punishment will be a two-game ban, maximum.

Laporta supports Alfons Godall.