Pep Confidential Read Free

high and it isn’t going to be easy. I’m actually a little nervous.’
    To everyone’s surprise, he speaks in very accurate German. He has a go at complex grammatical constructions and correctly uses the demonstrative pronoun ‘diese’ as well as the difficult word ‘herausforderung’ when he talks about the challenges he faces.
    In his first few weeks in charge the German press will make a fuss of his mastery of their language but, as the months go by, it will become a normal part of their interactions, even if he has to ask them to slow down from time to time.
    Everyone wants to know what he intends to change. Should they expect the kind of revolution he initiated at Barça in 2008 when he showed Ronaldinho and Deco, the supremely talented but wayward Brazilians, the door?
    Pep shakes his head: ‘There is very little in the team that has to change. Every coach has his own ideas but, in my opinion, any team that has won four titles [including the 2012 German Super Cup] doesn’t need much of an overhaul. Bayern are doing brilliantly and you have an excellent team. I hope to maintain the same level of success as Jupp Heynckes. He is a first-class coach and I admire him enormously not only because of his most recent triumphs, but for the work he has done throughout his whole career. I hope to meet him again soon because I value his opinion. It’s a great honour to be his successor and I have the greatest respect for him.’
    It is as if the club and its new coach are starting afresh. Pep won 14 titles in four years at Barcelona, the Munich club gathered seven titles in the same period; but for today they have forgotten their past successes and are thinking only of this new beginning.
    Uli Hoeness, the club’s president, confesses that he had to pinch himself when Guardiola indicated an interest in joining them: ‘Initially, when Pep said that he could imagine himself coaching here one day, we couldn’t believe it!’
    With almost childlike enthusiasm, big hopes and high expectations, they are embarking on this new journey together. But there is also an element of fear. In football everyone starts from zero with every new season. You are only as good as your last game.
    Pep: ‘When a club like Bayern calls you have to respond and I am ready to face the challenge. My time at Barcelona was fantastic, but I needed something new and Bayern has given me this opportunity.
    ‘There is going to be lots of pressure but I’ll just have to put up with it. As Bayern coach you are expected to play well and keep winning.
    ‘I want to reiterate that a team as successful as this one won’t need too many changes.’
    The speech is very different to the one he delivered back in 2008, when he took over at Barça. Back then Pep promised to struggle, to run and to fight until the last whistle of the last minute of the last game. Here, the effort is taken for granted and the huge pressure that Guardiola will impose on himself and others will be considered much like the rain or the beer in Munich, just another normal part of everyday life.
    Right now he is anxious to explain his football philosophy: ‘My football is simple: I like to attack, attack and attack.’
    Then everyone makes their way down to the Allianz Arena pitch so that Guardiola can sit on the coach’s bench for the first time. One of the Catalans present quotes Cavafy’s famous poem ‘Íthaca’ – a favourite of Pep’s. ‘May the journey be long,’ he wishes Pep on this fresh Munich morning. Guardiola turns to him and adds: ‘Let’s hope it’s a good journey, too!’
    Pep has spent as much time as he could endure away from football.
    Some weeks previously, Manel Estiarte was taken aback when the Catalan asked him to have his office in Säbener Strasse ready from June 10.
    ‘What on earth are you going to do there at that time of the summer?’ he demanded. ‘There won’t be anyone about! Enjoy your holidays, because very soon you won’t have any free