13.07.2011 12:26
There are no pre-season friendlies with Guardiola
Marc Guillén
On Monday the pre-season begins with five friendly matches, or to be more accurate, in the words of Gaurdiola, with five non-official matches. Pep Guardiola has shown that he wants to win every match.
So far, Guardiola’s Barça have played 16 non-official pre-season games and the team have won
12, drawn 3 and have lost only 1, clearly showing the competitive spirit they take into these
games..
2008-09: 6 games and 6 wins
Barça coach Pep Guardiola opened his account in Scotland with a 6-0 win against
Hibernian. The first game against top level opposition was against Fiorentina in Italy and Barça
won 3-1, not with any great flair, but playing very seriously..
The best example of the competitive spirit that Guardiola transmits to his players is the
Gamper of that year when Barça were losing 1-0 against Boca Juniors and ended up winning an epic
match, with goals from Carles Puyol and Samuel Eto'o, in injury time.
2009/10: Lots of reserves and the only defeat
Guardiola’s second season began with lots of reserve players in the
pre-season squad in St. Andrews. Although most of the players were from the reserves, Barça
didn’t lose, not event against Tottenham (1-1), who had started their pre-season much
earlier. The players put together 3 wins and 2 draws until between the 2 legs of the Spanish Super
Cup, they came up against Manchester City in the Gamper. That day, the team lost the only
non-official pre-season match with Guardiola as coach (1-0).
2010/11: fewer games following the World Cup
The pre-season last year was atypical, with only 4 preparation matches, and almost
inexistent for the World Cup players. However, Guardiola’s Barça didn’t drop their
level of commitment and carried on winning, with the exception of the Gamper against AC Milan where
they drew (1-1).