Having won the Champions League of Europe and la Liga in Spain, the team as directed by Pep Guardiola, added two more to their total of 6/9 major championships possible during his tenure (la liga/copa del rey/champions league X three years).
It's true that they are genius athletes, but the real mark of their excellence is in their coaching. More than Messi, whose personality only shows his love for the game, Guardiola personifies the esthetic of the team.
He had previously worked in the mid-field on the 90's dream team under then-coach Johan Cruyff (the Dutch superstar who himself moved to Barça in the 70's and was the key influence on the team of the last 30 years).
Pep learned the legacy of the Dutch/Catalan patois from being a kid in Barcelona, playing ball constantly through the club's youth academy, la masia. He made it on to the first team young and was on the field for the win for the European cup at Wembley 1992.
Josep GuardiolaFlash forward to May 28, 2011 and Pep Guardiola is on the pitch again-albeit a reconstructed Wembley. His team has sealed their domestic title for several weeks, he has a superstar central forward that is hailed as the greatest player of a generation. The traditional captain of the team has been injured for the last three months and largely out of play. Another base in his defensive triangle underwent surgery two months ago to remove cancer from his liver.
The weeks previous in Europe saw his team put on their most loathed performance ever during his tenure as manager, with a brutal series of games against Real Madrid that left a nasty taste in every one's mouth. How low can you go...? And those were the same players that his boys won the World Cup with last summer. At least 70% of them from both rival squads.
Players having more babies. The team in the red financially in spite of the victories and accolades. Next season we will wear the emblem of the Qatar Foundation on our chest, with UNICEF moved to the back.
Cruyff is still involved. Upstairs and in the administration.
And Pep's own contract is only negotiated for one more year--as each of his contracts have been. Though the club continues to push him for longer, he doesn't budge.
On the pitch facing them is Manchester United. Their coach, Sir Alex Ferguson has been at the club for decades. Winning-est manager in England and Europe. But while his style is perfected at bringing different talent together under a single flag, Guardiola's is in cultivating the ethos of a single style and bringing in a few elements to enhance it.
All of that is bullshit. It's not worth anything if Pedro and Villa don't come up today. The two strikers have been misfiring for three months, and genius or not, it isn't Messi's job to make a magic win. The three of them had been working together brilliantly in the fall. Breaking the lines in front of them like rascals on bikes. So give it up boys, quit holding out...
And the game started:
And then they did.
The game was tight. The game was weave-y.
They were squeezed by United early and didn't get to finalize their touch, but they soon started chatting back and forth building steam with it. Twenty minutes in and Iniesta meets up with Pedro to skate past the d and shoot to the lower right corner of the back of the net. 1-0.
Pedro is back. Don Pedro.
A few minutes later, though, Rooney launches one from the top of the box to equalize in merry ol' England. **cue double knee slide-------and, cut! 1-1.
The game felt good. Energetic and exciting. Hundreds of millions of people in every country watching it and now locked in. Both sides were inspiring eachother.
At the start of the half Man U showed up to the field three minutes before Barcelona. They wanted to pick it up. Barça had been holding the ball constantly and making the English champs chase it all over. They were on the field in their white jerseys that bore the name of corporate sponsor AON, a replacement after they parted company with AIG.
As the ball dropped on the pitch, Xavi and Messi and Iniesta locked it up between them, zig-zagging around and completely spinning the Man U men into ball watchers. Then in a little kick-around moment Iniesta dishes to Messi who wails it into the goal. 2-1.
Messi is a short man, but he could have dunked a watermelon in those moments. He shot to the corner by the club supporters, with Dani Alves in tow for the celebration.
A few minutes later, it would be David Villa who would get to celebrate a goal. After looking impatient to get a shot, Pedro sent one his way and he set it cleanly before arcing the ball in from 20 yards.
All three cylinders; firing again.
The D was held steady by Abidal, his cool gait breaking down the midfield before they could make headway, and before the clock ran out injured captain Carles Puyol got to play the final minutes. Also given time was Ibrahim Afelay, who since coming from Holland this year has been keen to get into the swing of things. If he will go as far as Cruyff did in Catalunya is still a mystery.
All that we have is now.
Pep as a coach at Wembley. 3-1.
