Messi

by Guillem Balague

  Pep accepted all responsibility for the departures of Eto’o, Ibra and Bojan, the young winger from the youth team who felt mistreated by Guardiola because he stopped playing regularly, despite a promising start to his career. But his decisions were taken to create the conditions to benefit Messi’s game on the pitch and to make him the best in the world. Messi does not have to ask for other forwards to be removed; the coach does that for him.

  And what will go through Leo’s head? He must think, of course you have to choose and you have to make those choices that benefit me, because I am the best and because I win matches. Pure logic. Leo must think that the coach would do everything necessary to keep him happy, because that was his duty.

  Barcelona, incidentally, had gradually adopted a policy of feeding Leo’s ambition and making him feel special. Thus, at 26, with the responsibility of carrying a universally acclaimed club and the hopes of a nation on his shoulders, Leo’s life became extremely complicated. How to live a normal life when you are indulged and given anything you want, so long as you continue to win titles? We live in another world, we cannot see what Leo sees, we have no idea what it is to live with those expectations. But it remains clear that it is precisely because of that pressure that he openly demands the ball from David Villa, Cuenca or Tello. Leo thinks that they are making a mistake if a chance of an opening, which he clearly sees, is lost.

  Guardiola’s success was also down to a phenomenal group of people with whom Leo shares the dressing room. It was almost impossible to combine Pep’s vision in the same team, the fourth best player in the world answered to the third, the third to the second, and all of them to Messi. So, who has won 14 out of 19 titles, the extraordinary figure achieved in the Guardiola era? Does the success belong to Leo, his team-mates, the coach? They say that with everything Barcelona has given him, Messi should be eternally grateful to the Catalan club. But Guardiola will add that he has earned everything he got from Barcelona on the pitch.

  Guardiola started his career with the idea of dictating the team from the bench, where the players are pieces with specific roles that must adapt to his particular philosophy. But little by little, experience made him give in to the magic of footballers, their role in the game.

  The coach’s submission to Leo and the team organisation in order to make him feel comfortable was a general plea from the coach to the group to obey the star. And that exercise inevitably leads to unbalances.

  It is in these thoughts that the roots of the so-called ‘Messidependence’ are found, which soon became a topic for discussion that season: team-mates started to avoid taking responsibility and always gave him the ball; Leo always wanted it. It was becoming difficult to balance the team spirit with the Argentinian’s needs, something Pep had managed successfully until then.

  But something else brought that dependence on the Flea. It was very difficult to arrive from another club and fit into that team straight away. The well-oiled machine that was Barcelona needed players that had enough talent and personality to add when they arrived – and the centre back Chygrinski, Ibrahimović, Afellay or Alexis were not acquisitions that made the team better. With every failed signing, the team looked more and more to Messi for solutions.

  As always happens, time gradually erodes dressing-room relationships, and Pep’s with Leo was also starting to wear. ‘What you cannot hope for is a group of players to last for ever, they are not machines,’ explains Josep María Minguella, a man who knows the ins and outs at Barcelona better than most. ‘There are ways of being, there is jealousy, different egos, changes in hierarchy, in lineups, all of that causes tiredness and stress which you have to know how to accept. It has occurred historically: Ajax came and then disappeared, later Bayern, with the same result; Milan … And Barça’s turn came, they had their time with Pep. But, given Pep’s personal characteristics, with his hands-on approach which tires players out, and the normal procession of players, it is impossible for that to last indefinitely.’

  Pep’s exhaustion was clear for everybody to see and even his partner Cristina discussed openly with relatives of the players that the demands of the job were extraordinary and having an adverse effect. But his departure was more complex than just a plea for rest.

  Perhaps in the end Guardiola did not have the strength to reinvent the team around Messi. Or did not know how to make Leo happy. There was a falling-out after the Christmas holidays: Messi returned later than scheduled and it was made to look as if he had had permission from the club to do so, although he had not. Manel Estiarte dealt with those issues to avoid the further strain on Guardiola, who was already beginning to lose the enthusiasm to carry on. It bothered Leo that the coach had not spoken to him directly. That’s what happens when you are together for a long time: the small things start to get bigger.

  Pep thought that the end he feared so much, that he had predicted since that first day in the first-team dressing room, was coming. Relationships with Leo and some of the senior players were gradually breaking down with that degree of impatience that comes from overfamiliarity. Coaches’ decisions were questioned; the message was not reaching the players no matter how much effort he put into it. He tried to shield the players by appearing at every press conference that he could, but that created a mythology and adulation around Guardiola that was verging on the religious.

  It was Guardiola’s team.

  And the players? Pep’s excessive protagonism in the eyes of fans and commentators made players unhappy and the distance between them and the coach was becoming agonising.

  Pep had to take big decisions if he wanted to recapture the magic and authority, to recycle the message and the squad, but preferred not to do so. He no longer wanted, was able to or knew how to put limits on his players. He chose not to correct the situation.

  As Guardiola always said, football cycles last two or three years. In fact, his revolutionary era probably lasted a year more than he had expected, but having surrendered to the magic of players and what they had done for the club, he could not find the strength to get rid of some of them and start all over again.

  Those are the reasons why Pep left FC Barcelona. He did not do it because of Leo Messi, as it has been so simplistically written.

  With the erosion of time, the relaxation after years of winning and the loss of the understanding that had worked so well for three years, the collective organisation disappeared gradually on the pitch, especially without the ball; it is the first thing a team loses when things are not right. Players are inclined towards comfort, like all human beings and in all professions – and comfort means doing what you most fancy, not what you have to do.

  The Catalan media preferred to ignore the warning signs. They unanimously backed Guardiola and wanted him to confirm as quickly as possible that he was going to renew his contract again for another year, which would be his fifth. Suggestions started appearing about players having lost the passion or the focus that had taken them so far. But the team was progressing in the competitions, Real Madrid seemed stronger than in previous years and not too far away in the league, and that always hides the cracks.

  As journalists do not have access to the training ground, some snippets of information were now used to match certain personal agendas or opinions. An incident took place on the training ground that was taken out of context by those who had decided that there was another ‘darker’ side to Messi. Leo reacted to a hard tackle from youth player Marc Bartra, which caused bruising on his calf and prevented him from playing a friendly against Hamburg, with very public recriminations. As had happened in similar situations with Thiago Motta or Sergio Busquets in previous years, nobody likes to be whacked that hard in training. Bartra was trying to make an impact in his first season with the first team, and his understandable enthusiasm made him mistime the tackle from behind, which could have seriously injured Leo. Messi’s reaction was, for some outside the club, proof of his new ‘boorish’ behaviour. For his team-mates, some of whom laid into Bartra, it was just the
typical response to an excessive use of force.

  In this confusing atmosphere, everything was being weighed up; Guardiola was about to make a decision about his future. ‘It would be difficult to find a replacement. Barcelona have been playing like that for four years for him,’ said Messi in March of that season. ‘For me, he is more important than me at Barcelona. We are the same as all of you, waiting for him to decide whether he stays or not.’ And what would happen if Pep decided to leave? ‘The club will go on and we will, too. But it will be very different without Guardiola.’

  18 April 2012. Champions League semifinal first leg. Chelsea 1–0 Barcelona

  Chelsea: Cech; Ivanović, Terry, Cahill, Cole; Mikel, Lampard; Mata (Kalou, 74th minute), Meireles, Ramires (Bosingwa, 88th minute); and Drogba. Subs not used: Turnbull; Essien, Torres, Malouda and Sturridge.

  Barcelona: Valdés; Alvés, Puyol, Mascherano, Adriano; Xavi (Cuenca, 87th minute), Busquets, Cesc (Thiago, 78th minute); Alexis (Pedro, 66th minute), Messi and Iniesta. Subs not used: Pinto; Piqué, Bartra and Keita.

  Goal: 1−0. 45th minute+2: Drogba, from a Ramires pass from the left.

  Martí Perarnau on www.martiperarnau.com: Chelsea only wanted to do one thing – steal possession, even just once, and give the ball to Drogba to score. And they only had one chance: precisely the one in which he scored. In a clumsy moment of Messi, who lost possession, Chelsea took the ball, counterattacked and a bite … Drogba in Capital Letters, as he has always been. The man for the big occasions.

  The English club closed down all the channels and made an impenetrable net. Terry and Cahill did the ‘Levante’ tactic of waiting for Messi, not jumping on him. Last Saturday, Levante’s defenders only tried to tackle Messi once – and he scored. Today, the two Chelsea centre-backs did not fall into the trap and waited for him, knowing that is what hurts the Argentinian.

  And so April arrived, a key month in a season in which Real Madrid were ahead in the domestic competition and Barcelona were in the Champions League semi-finals. Chelsea were their opponents. The technical staff at Chelsea were surprised by the fact that Messi, caught in the English side’s defensive trap, only managed three high-intensity passages of play throughout the whole match. Chelsea didn’t play 4-5–1 as suspected, but 4-4–1; Raul Meireles was the eleventh man stuck like a lamppost on the left-hand side of the pitch from where Messi looked to start his runs, and with the sole brief of preventing him from doing so.

  Three days later in the clásico at the Nou Camp the league was going to be decided. With four games to play, Madrid were four points ahead.

  According to Diego Torres in his book Prepárense para perder, the Madrid players remarked that they were surprised at how Messi had played, mostly in fits and starts, as if he was protecting an injury. ‘The local hero walked about, looked around, pondered the situation. Was he saving himself? For what? Something was amiss in the Guardiola home and Madrid turned up with Cristiano at his peak.’ It was Mourinho’s second victory in a clásico, following his victory in the Copa del Rey final the previous season.

  Matchday 35 (21 April 2102) Barcelona 1–2 Real Madrid

  Barcelona: Valdés; Puyol, Mascherano, Adriano (Pedro, 74th minute); Thiago, Xavi (Alexis, 69th minute), Busquets, Iniesta; Alvés, Messi and Tello (Cesc, 80th minute). Subs not used: Pinto; Piqué, Keita and Montoya.

  Real Madrid: Casillas; Arbeloa, Ramos, Pepe, Coentrão; Khedira, Xabi Alonso; Di María (Granero, 74th minute), Özil (Callejón, 88th minute), Ronaldo; and Benzema (Higuaín, 93rd minute). Subs not useds: Adán; Kaká, Marcelo and Albiol.

  Goals: 0−1. 17th minute: Khedira. 1−1. 70th minute: Alexis. 1−2. 73rd minute: Ronaldo.

  Santiago Siguero, Marca: A Cristiano goal finishing off a counter-attack killed off Barcelona and brought the title closer to Madrid, who did a practical and efficient job at the Camp Nou. Moments after Barcelona equalised, the Portuguese received a precise pass into space from Özil. That goal could mean that, after three years of Barcelona domination, Madrid win La Liga. And maybe it could also be the start of that change of cycle that Madrid fans have been dreaming of for so long.

  Olé (Argentina): On this occasion, the duel between Messi and Ronaldo was won by the Portuguese, who got the winning goal at the Camp Nou and also goes ahead of Messi in the goals-coring tables with 42. Before that, after some good defending, the best player in the world gave the pass of a genius that made the score 1−1.

  Pep’s decision to start Tello and leave Piqué, Cesc, Pedro and Alexis on the bench provoked a discussion in the dressing room. What did Guardiola have in mind with this decision? Was he, as some players suspected, looking to punish someone who wasn’t being as obedient as he should have been? Cuenca was in the starting line-up against Chelsea, a decision deemed by many as yet another error of judgement. Look at the bench.

  25 April 2012. Champions League semifinal second leg. Barcelona 2−2 Chelsea

  Barcelona: Valdés; Puyol, Piqué (Alvés, 26th minute), Mascherano; Xavi, Busquets, Cesc (Keita, 74th minute); Messi; Cuenca (Tello, 67th minute), Alexis and Iniesta. Subs not used: Pinto; Adriano, Thiago and Pedro.

  Chelsea: Cech; Ivanović, Cahill (Bosingwa, 12th minute), Terry, Cole; Lampard, Mikel; Mata (Kalou, 58th minute), Meireles, Ramires; and Drogba (Torres, 80th minute). Subs not used: Turnbull; Essien, Malouda and Sturridge.

  Goals: 1−0. 35th minute: Busquets. 2−0. 43rd minute: Iniesta. 2−1. 45th minute+1: Ramires. 2−2. 92nd minute: Torres.

  Ramón Besa, El Pais: They say that the Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away. But it’s not as if Barcelona’s titles had all been gifted since the arrival of Pep Guardiola. The football of the azulgrana has captivated all those that love the game. Now it seems that the ball that once finished in the back of the net is now crashing against the woodwork, and defeats are now linking up at the same speed as victories used to come along. The same rivals that until now Barcelona would subdue with their own brand of ‘jazz’ football are making Barcelona pay as they bring with them their ‘rock and vengeance’ style of play, and strikers, previously made to look small by Messi, are queuing around the Camp Nou seeking their revenge. It had already happened with Madrid on Saturday and it happened yesterday with Chelsea. It occurred with Cristiano Ronaldo and Drogba, even with Torres. Tormented, fragile, and very unlucky, Barcelona now miss out on the Champions League final, just three days after losing the league.

  Marti Perarnau on www.martiperarnau.com: Game where history repeats itself. Groundhog Day: Inter 2010; Chelsea 2012. Total domination, a subdued rival, an armed concrete wall, a magnificent exercise in survival from a Chelsea side weakened by an injury to Cahill and the dismissal of Terry following an inexplicable act from an experienced skipper. Guardiola planned the game well. Open up the flanks, place a double false number 9 in the shape of Messi and Cesc and play what looks like a version of handball, passing the ball from side to side as you look to break through the middle.

  A mobile defence on top of Messi who tried and tried, with support from Xavi and Busquets, but found himself inexorably crashing against a white wall. This Barcelona, the team that became invincible, probably the most solid, cohesive and competitive team in the history of the game, has discovered its Achilles heel: people have found out the answers, now Barcelona will have to find new questions to ask, new challenges to set.

  In the dressing room Pedro was in tears, as was Leo, who had already scored 63 goals that season but sent his penalty, which would have made it 3–1, crashing against the woodwork, as well as hitting the post on another occasion. ‘It was a final that we wanted to play in and it got away from us,’ recalls the Canary Islands-born winger. ‘And it was the game where perhaps I saw him most upset and hurt, I don’t know, maybe because he missed the penalty or perhaps because he was not going to be in the final. I suppose everything has an effect.’

  Pep called a meeting with the president for the following morning. Suspecting that he was leaving, Leo sent various affectionate text messages to his coac
h trying to persuade him not to. Pep has them to this day.

  But the small wounds that had been appearing in the previously thick skin of the squad had become infected.

  Two days later, Pep told his players in the training ground that he was leaving.

  The players were not sure till that moment if Pep really would go. But, after receiving confirmation while they were already on the training ground, the conversation turned to the future. Who was going to take his place? After the session, the group knew that Tito Vilanova would be taking charge of the side, which came as a relief; the best possible solution. ‘After losing the most successful coach in the history of the club, the fact that you have someone so close to the club available was really good for us,’ says Mascherano, who remembers the feeling of shock at that very light training session.

  After training, Pep accompanied by the president, Sandro Rosell, and the sporting director, Andoni Zubizarreta, announced his decision at a press conference. Leo wasn’t there but Puyol, Xavi, Iniesta, Busquets, Valdés, Cesc, Piqué and Pedro all attended.

  ‘Time always wears you out and I am worn out,’ said Guardiola. ‘I am empty and need to refill. I sincerely believe that the next man can give things that I cannot. To sit here every three days a coach has to be strong, has to have life, passion. I have to get that back and I can only do that by resting, distancing myself, because I believe we would have hurt each other, that is my perception … I know what I’m leaving behind me but I believe I am doing what is right for me.’

  ‘Leo’s here! Leo’s here! The demonstrations of affection I have received these past days have been great,’ concluded Guardiola when asked about the absence of the Argentinian.

  Messi was not sure what was happening after the training session. ‘He was furious that Pep was announcing his departure and he wasn’t there,’ says Piqué. ‘There was a breakdown in communication in the dressing room.’ The four captains (Valdés, Xavi, Iniesta, Puyol) got the news about the press announcement and started to pass it around but it didn’t reach everyone. What’s more, it was initially thought that only the four spokesmen of the team would attend. Those who went were surprised not to see him there and that’s where the confusion arose. As soon as Leo and Mascherano noted the presence of some players as well as the senior ones, they knew that their absence would cause speculation.