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He signed a new contract for 4 more years, but he didn't stay in his club as comfortable as he was before.
A few months after that, he got injured.
nobody seemed to know what kind of injury it was or how he should be treated
People said it was his hamstrings. He had a though time.
The doctors were able to find the injury but not how to treat it
He was out for almost a year, and was very worried for that time
He was very sad. When I visited him.. if he was already introverted in normal life, the injury made him even more self absorbed.
Xavi: It was a problem for me. It was very hard for me to come in to replace a lider, a Barca myth, our captain
But he supported me, he was my team mate, my friend, he advised me since he had experience and I had not.
Guardiola: I can confirm what I alredy said to the President, that I will finish my career in a foreign country.
I tried to convinced him of not leaving, but I also understood the reasons that made him want to leave
I don't think he wasn't comfortable in the club.
He was the first Barca player, coming from the youth system, that makes the decision of leaving on his own
since his relationship with the directive board wasn't good.
When those bad news came from Italy, he was already studying about dopping, about that substance
I took a plane to see him as I thought he would be devastated, but I found him strong and full of ambition.
He wanted to fight for his innocence
I remember him telling a few times -it's time to stop, they won't recognise your innocence
You should quit, this is a waste of time
I have to say that, if that would have been me, I would have quit fighting
But he fought until he was proven right.
He was so eager to prove his innocence, that when Italian court said he was
indeed, not guilty of dopping, I think that was one of the happiest days of his life
Lluis Bach (former Barca candidate to Presidency)
When I started to run for President for the elections in 2003,
I went to Roma to hire Pep Guardiola because I knew he was very intelligent, loved Barca and worked really hard.
He convinced me of that and more in six hours. He wasn't coach yet
he hadn't taken the coach course yet, so I saw him as my future Sports Director
He would have done a fantastic job as he is doing now as a coach.
After Pep left Barca and his experience in Italy, we wanted to enjoy ourselves again as we were 17.
We wanted to live the essence of football again
We went to the coaching course together
He was restless, always having thoughts about football.
He wanted to be a coach.
I don't know how good student he was at school, but I think he could have been one of those
that had good grades without the need of studying too much. He retains so much information
Evarist Murtra (former Barca directive): I knew that
after his years in Mexico and Qatar, that he was already qualifyied to be a professional football coach
Txiki (Beguiristain) said that he thought he could be a very important piece for Barca, so he wanted to give him a place in the youth system.
Sergio Busquets (Barca player) There is not much difference between
Pep as Barca B coach and of him now. He was eager to win game after game
to study our rivals and give us ideas to solve any problems whe could face in the football ground
He is following that same dynamic now.
I took advantage of a bad moment to offer Pep Guardiola to be the coach of the first team.
In that moment we were thinking of getting a new coach
I told Frank Rijkaard that if we didn't win anything that season
we would bring in another coach as his substitute
. And that new coach would be Pep Guardiola
Why Pep Guardiola? Well, I had a revelation.. no, not really
The responsibles of bringing Pep in were the President, as he decided it,
and Txiki, who suggested it. Signing Pep would not have been possible without Txiki.
Pep asked me if I was bringing him in because I was certain we will win La Liga
And I said, as a joke, just La Liga?
We won't promise any title, but we are going to try
Fasten your seatbelts, because you're going to have a good time.
When we won la Copa del Rey in Valencia, and we hugged after the game
his first words were -what are we doing?
At one time, he said to his mother
I reckon that I am worthier as a coach than I was as a player
As a coach, Pep knows how to talk to his players and when
he has total credibility, which is the most important thing being a coach
He convinces everyone with his ideas
he talks a lot and transmits so many things. He knows how to reach us as players and people
He teaches his players the meaning of playing for Barca
he is demanding but also motivates them to play the next game as it was the last.
He is a coach that motivates his players, he shares his enthusiasm
He has his own ideas, being quite confident of himself as well. And he transmits that.
Santiago Segurola (Journalist, Marca): I have no doubts
this Barca team is the best team I have seen in my entire life.
Miguel Rico (Journalist, El Mundo Deportivo): The decision of Pep not giving
personal interviews is OK now to everybody,
but that doesn't mean everybody were OK with it when he decided that.
That was because we are used to people that are not very coherent with themselves. Pep kept his word on this
Ramón Besa (Journalist, El País): The fact of him not giving interviews
even after his team winning six titles, might be difficult to understand, or even reprehensible.
He has grew old, he's getting bald.. because of being too nervous..
He's losing hair.. He lives 24-7 thinking and breathing football.
He is obsessed with football, and that makes us suffer a bit
we haven't told him that, he might know it now
English translation: Maria Ines
subtitles: doris86pl
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