TorellóHe remembers well the day of the first training session with Pep Guardiola as coach of Barça B, on July 23, 2007. “Sitting on a ball, he took grass, smelled it and told us that we should feel love for it. green. For the smell of freshly cut grass. For the game,” recalls Víctor Sánchez, ex-Barça, Espanyol and Girona player. “It gave me goosebumps,” says Víctor Vázquez, now at the Los Angeles Galaxy. Barça B had just been relegated to Tercera and Joan Laporta gave the keys to the subsidiary to Guardiola, to have his first experience on the benches. The decline of B led to the disappearance of C and an excess of players. “He was meeting with us one by one. We went to the office like someone going to collect an exam grade. And besides, it was Guardiola, not just anyone,” Sánchez recalls, returning to the age of 19.
Daniel Toribio, until now a Lleida player, continues: “We were shaking going to the individual meetings that summer. I had a lot of nerves, a lot, because I was very young and I didn’t want to screw her up. In the first meeting he said to me: “you’re out from the club. No, it’s a joke.” “The mother who gave birth to you, dumbass”, I thought. He told me to get rid of my nerves.” Sito Riera also remembers the first meeting: “I must be one of the only footballers in the whole world who have told him no. I remember saying to myself: “Sito, you stay here with me and next year you will be in the first team earning some important money and by my side”. And I didn’t believe him. I didn’t believe him.” On the one hand, he has always regretted it: “Over the years, you see it in perspective and you say, ‘hey, maybe I could have played in the first team even if it was for a year, or a game’ “. Yes, it could have been Busquets or Pedro. “But you never know. I wanted to play it and I think that’s what life is about: making decisions. Sometimes it goes better and sometimes it goes worse, but when you have a clear idea you have to go ahead,” explains Riera, who has played in Greece, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Poland and Cyprus since 2008. He is now 35 years old.
Sitting on a ball, he took grass, smelled it and told us to feel love for it”
Victor SanchezFormer player of Barça, Espanyol and Girona
Hesitating, he left for Espanyol B because it was a “more reliable and more feasible option to play in the first team” and to share the dressing room with his brother, Albert Riera, but before leaving the Miniestadi behind he scored the goal of the first Guardiola’s triumph as coach, in a friendly against Gramenet B played on July 27, 2007 in front of 600 people. The duel, which took place 15 years ago, began with a minute’s silence for the death of Joan Laporta’s father and ended with a goal from Riera (87′), assisted by a 16-year-old Thiago Alcántara. “I remember saying: ‘Woah, this kid is really good,'” says Riera, diving into a sea of memories and anecdotes. That afternoon the offensive trident was made up of Víctor Vázquez, Gai Assulin and Pedrito, who would later be Pedro.
“Let there be contact, let them touch”
Riera praises Guardiola’s collective talks: “Sometimes, it depends on the coach, suddenly you disconnect and stop listening. Everyone listened to him, no matter how long it was.” “It was like going to school. He has a vision that makes him unique and an intelligence and a feeling with football that places him above the others. It gives you a confidence that makes you play freely, happily, contentedly,” adds Vázquez. “We hardly blinked. The first day, when he entered the dressing room, we already saw a winner”, Toribio completes. Remembering, physical trainer Aureli Altimira explains, laughing, that “one day at La Masia, before the start of the season, he told me that in on day 10 we would already be champions. Or that we would take ten more points than the runners-up”. The ex-Barça player talks with the computer in front, reviewing data from that year which ended with the subsidiary’s return to Segona B. “I review it from time to time. On the first day, I did an exercise of these grouping and hugging and he said to me: “I like this, that there is contact. Let them touch.” On the day of the game itself, we trained in the morning. We worked on offensive movements, passing the ball, strategy and defensive corners. I’ve written it down here,” explains Altimira.
Víctor Sánchez emphasizes the winning character and security of the coach with an example from the following season, already with Guardiola in the first team. “After starting the League losing to Numancia and drawing with Racing de Santander, I remember being in the gym in the first team’s dressing room with Puyol, Xavi and I don’t know who else. He said to me: “Víctor, tell them that in in the end we will end up as champions, that with my idea of the game we will go up, don’t worry”. “It will be fine, don’t worry. We started badly: that’s why, that’s why, that’s why. But it’ll be fine”, he repeated, he remembers Sanchez He made his debut with the first team still under Frank Rijkaard (2007-2008) and played more than one match at Camp Nou with Guardiola, like Vázquez. Both Sánchez and Vázquez and Toribio and Riera speak of Guardiola as “a genius” and a visionary: “During the week he said: ‘This will happen’, and it happened in the match”. And as one of the coaches who have marked them the most. “Wow, that season, all that is not forgotten,” acknowledges Toribio. “Wow, that was a big deal,” sighs Riera. “I didn’t remember that goal against Grama. It’s been many years. Now I remember it and it gave me joy. I’m very excited,” he says, happily. And laugh
