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(Pep Guardiola appointed as Best Coach of 2011 by FIFA)
-I would like to dedicate this award
to Tito Vilanova
my friend,
my partner,
my assistant,
who even not being with us lately
as much as he used to,
he is always in our mind,
so Tito, this is for you
-When Guardiola dedicated
his Best Coach of 2011 award
to his friend,
Tito had come back to work
only a month ago,
after a surgery in his parotid gland
and a recovery process that,
even if somehow fast, it had been uncertain
the first time Tito came back to
travel with the team, was on a trip to Madrid
at the santiago Bernabéu stadium,
his reencounter with Mourinho was awaiting him
it was the first time they would meet
after Mourinho's assault on Tito at the Camp Nou
-I think the reactiong after knowing
about Tito's condition,
is a normal reaction, a human reaction
a good and praiseworthy reaction,
a sort of reaction that every human being
should have on this situation
whether you put a finger in the eye or not
-If last year we showed our simpathy
towards Abidal, we want to do the same
now for Tito Vilanova,
we hope he comes back soon to his family
and his team, and we wish
he comes here for our game against Barça
well recovered
we will be pleased to welcome him here
Out of the 3 facts that have happened and
involved Mourinho and Tito,
the assault, the apology, and
the good wishes for his recovery,
the second one, the apology, was the one
that really surprised me, as Mourinho
didn't apologize to the one he assaulted, Tito,
but only to his club (Madrid)
('I would like to apologize to Madrid and its fans, and only to them,
about my attitude in the last game')
well, they might have felt ofended as well, but
Mourinho had offended and done
something wrong to another person,
so he should have apologized to the one
he offended and assaulted directly
I think that was the right thing to do
at the moment
The other two facts, the assault
which is obvious and doesn't need
much more comment,
and the 'get well soon' wishes for Tito
are something that anyone would do
I know there were lots of people
that thought what Mourinho did was wrong
and felt ashamed of his behavior
"Mou, your finger shows us the way"
Tito was the victim here, the victim of an assault
and somehow, the typical thing happened,
that sense of doing even more damage
to the victim, by looking down on him
"Tito Vilanova was head coach of Barça's
'cadet' team from 2001 to 2003"
Tito's great job at Barça's cadet team
wasn't overlooked in the rest of Europe,
Inter de Milan invited Tito to show his training methods
to coaches of Inter's younger divisions
so, even back then, Vilanova was exporting
his vision and tactical preferences:
the '3-4-3' system
This stage in Tito's career, unkown until now,
came across to him right after Charly Rexach
trusted Tito again, now for him to start
his coaching career at Barça's young divisions
-When he retired from football
which he did soon, as he had a chronic
injury that never healed properly,
I told him I wanted him here, in La Masía
to coach the 'cadet' team, and
I have said this before, that team
had Piqué, Cesc, Messi, among others
I remember when he told me back then:
'I have this kid in this team,
he is incredible, such a wonderful talent'
And I ask Tito for the name of the kid,
'Messi' he said, and I said,
'well, I know who you're talking about!'
(Raxack signed Messi when he was a kid)
Messi had arrived a few years ago,
I knew about his talent,
but that team was more than that,
they had a recogniseable style, and
an incredible sense of the game
Tito made that team to achieve that
beyond individual talent
-Lastly, I would like to thank Pep,
my friend, whom I love
as he was my brother
for giving me the chance of
comming back to Barça
who let me work by his side
I have learnt a lot along the way
these have been five incredible years
thank you Pep,
thank you all
-Before his return to Barça with Guardiola,
Vilanova gained experience
coaching young divisions at Figueres and Terrasa,
and coached Palafrugell FC
Sergi Luis Cruz, 'Sepu' is Palafrugell's actual coach
and as a football player, he played
under Tito's commands.
-Yes, this is me, in 2002
-I played almost an entire second part of
tournament, when he took the team
when we were heading to be ungraded
we nearly got saved, but couldn't at the end
he was a coach that knew how to separate things
time for work, and time for having a laugh
he didn't have a bad temper, but I do remember
him clashing with someone in a match
he has a strong personality too
-was he willing to fight someone if needed?
-no, but defend what he believed, yes, of course
people might think he's quiet or timid,
but that was maybe the image he projected
as second coach,
but he has his own personality,
and a strong character as well,
and if he needs to take a difficult decision,
he won't hesitate.
There is a story, of him and I,
when we played Barça C back then,
he grabbed me and told me,
'well, Messi will play'
nobody knew who he was at that time,
and said 'he'll play next to your zone, etc.,
he'll get to the first team, that's for sure
so think that you could say someday
that you played against him'
he had already told us, before the game
that Messi would probably be
the next Maradona, so
if Tito mantains that vision he had back then,
then everyone should be confindent
about his work
-And next year, we will keep doing
the same, now with Tito
-Tito has the same philosophy, so I think
he is the ideal coach for Barça
-I think this decision (appointing Tito as head coach)
is the rightest Barça could have made
-Tito will be the leader, and we will be at his side
-Tito is different, but I am sure
we will continue the same path
-We are behind him 100%
-It has been demonstrated that people with
Barça background doesn't dissapoint at the end
-This will work. it just will