mascherano o pepu:
Pep Guardiola is a manager who completely lives his profession; you see it in his gestures and in every one of his movements. He explains football to you very clearly and maintains his ideas absolutely. He leads groups like almost no one else. Rarely have I ever seen management of a group like what he did with Barcelona, where I have enjoyed being a footballer. He’s a manager, but he’s the leader you can talk to about anything. As a footballer, he gave me the chance to join a team like Barça and that is priceless: I reached the pinnacle of my career. Later he reinvented me; I discovered a position I never imagined I could play. He gave me that confidence and I loved it. He gave me the tools in order to continue growing in that position. He’s more than special; he is unique and unforgettable. I’m aware that if it were not for Guardiola, I would not have played in Barcelona as a center midfielder, let alone a center defender.
“In fact, the first time I did [play defender] he told me nothing and we didn’t practice it, but he put me in as a starter and at the end of the team talk he told me something I will never forget: “When you’re a manager, you are going to want to put in all the center-midfielders, it’s the best way for a team to play well.” He filled my mind with concepts every day. I’ve been lucky to have great and very prestigious managers, like Marcelo Bielsa, Rafa Benítez, Gerardo Martino, José Pekerman, all of them different to one another. Each one with their own nuances and differences made me grow as a player. But Pep is another thing entirely; living football becomes contagious. He makes it that when you get up every day, you feel that what you are doing is worthwhile, that training is paramount and innate, it’s what results in your professional and personal fulfillment. Many times we were fed up with the environment surrounding us; the entorno makes you tired. When you don’t play, maybe you complain, yet someone always sees that or when it happens it leaves negative feelings.
“However, he would say that everything must be earned with effort and talent. On the global football map, without doubt, he’s a reference point because he elevated the football philosophy of Barcelona, a mature and developed idea, to the very highest possible level before perfection. He looked for perfection in our play and in his message, and achieved unanimity in the football world, something that for everyone else is practically impossible. And most importantly, he didn’t do it for the titles; he did it for the methods. When he decided to end his time with Barcelona, naturally nobody was prepared to lose a manager of such magnitude. But from the first moment we understood what he had taught us time and time again, that the essence of everything is to always respect the decision of the human being.