Year 2006. Pep Guardiola He had just hung up his boots in Dorados de Sinaloa, on his horizon he saw himself with the diver and the blackboard, and he sought to devour the knowledge behind his training. His friend, the filmmaker David Trueba, planned a trip to Argentina and he saw an opportunity: to cross off his list two names that he believed were vital in his mastery: César Luis Menotti and Marcelo Bielsa. Jorge Valdani and Ángel Cappa had been two of those who told him that his path was not finished if he did not meet with El Flaco. And the conclave, the kickoff to a deeper relationship, happened.
According to the book Che Pepby journalist Vicente Muglia, the meeting took place in the restaurant Piegari, from Recoleta. And the concepts with the ball as the protagonist rolled until 3 AM. “Nobody asked me as many questions as Guardiola. It was a machine gun. But he didn’t need to learn anything. He already knew everything,” highlighted the world champion with Argentina in 1978, who died this Sunday at the age of 85, still in force: he served as Director of National Teams.
The influence of the man who emerged from Rosario Central on today’s Manchester City manager is inescapable. The meetings took place on each Menotti trip to Europe or Pep’s trip to Argentina, as in 2013 and 2014, excursions in which there was a long dinner to which other football figures, such as Gabriel Milito, joined. Were around 30 hours of conversations with a beginning and without an endencouraged by the love for the sport that united them.
“The other day I was with Menotti and I appreciate that he talks about football with the passion and enthusiasm that he had when he was 39 years old, when he was world champion. He continues to be a revolutionary of what he likes,” Guardiola was able to underline in 2021. In this fencing of praise, César Luis raised the stakes.
“I believe that Pep is the Che Guevara of football. He always said that the revolutionary wins or dies in the fight and, like him, his idea is unbreakable and he will never change it: he wants to play well, he wants to take over the space and the ball. And he wants to manage the timing of the game,” he praised in a column with the newspaper Sport.
The dynamic of the relationship ended up becoming philosophical. “We both ask ourselves questions, but sometimes we don’t find the answer.”the Argentine was able to describe, who even sniffed that, at some point, the landing of the former Barcelona in the Ezeiza property to return to command Lionel Messi did not represent a utopia. “I think he would have come, he told me he would like it”the architect of the legendary Huracán champion of ’73 was able to declare.
“I think Guardiola is the one who came closest to Menotti. But Flaco’s performance at the level of Huracán was spectacular. And at the National Team level it was twice spectacular. He made his team what he wanted, what he thought. On the other hand, Guardiola makes teams with very good players, but with money. And that, of course, applies to anyone. But Guardiola’s philosophy at Barcelona was very similar to Flaco’s,” he reflected. Mario Alberto Kempes after the blow of Flaco’s death. Twinned by a style and more than 30 hours of coffee talks.
