How Lionel Messi was reinvented as a false nine by Pep Guardiola
An extract from Martí Perarnau's incredible book PEP CONFIDENTIAL, from inside the Bayern Munich camp during Pep Guardiola's first season in Germany
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When he talked about this moment of magic he was probably thinking back to May 1, 2009. To that wonderful moment when he showed the whole world that he had found a new way to beat Real Madrid, who at that point were on a 17-game unbeaten run.
Having watched a previous match between the two great teams, Pep noticed how much pressure the Madrid midfielders Guti, Fernando Gago and Royston Drenthe put on his own players, Xavi and Yaya Touré.
He also noticed the tendency of the central defenders, Cannavaro and Metzelder, to hang back near Iker Casillas’ goalmouth. This left a vast expanse of space between them and the Madrid midfielders – a vast, empty space.
It was 10pm and Pep was alone in his office. Everyone else, including his assistants, had gone home. He sat in that dimly lit room imagining Messi moving freely across that enormous empty space in the Bernabéu, having shaken off the Madrid midfielders. He saw him face-to-face with Metzelder and Cannavaro, the two players frozen on the edge of the box, unsure whether or not to chase the Argentine. The image was crystal clear and he picked up the phone. He wasn’t calling his advisors, or even Xavi, the brains of his team. Instead, Guardiola dialled Messi’s number.
‘Leo, it’s Pep. I’ve just seen something important. Really important. Why don’t you come over. Now, please.’
At 10.30pm there is a gentle knock at Pep’s office door and a 21-year-old Leo Messi comes in. The coach shows him the video, pausing it to point out the empty space. He wants his player to make that space his own. From now on it will be ‘the Messi zone’.
‘Tomorrow in Madrid I want you to start on the wing as usual, but the minute I give you a sign I want you to move away from the midfielders and into the space I just showed you. It’s the same thing we did last September in Gijón.’
In Gijón, on September 21, 2008, in trouble after having lost their first league match against Numancia and drawn the second against a weak Racing de Santander, Guardiola’s future as Barça coach hung in the balance. He decided to send Eto’o to the right wing and play Messi in the space between midfield and defence, as a false 9, just as the young Argentine has done many times in the youth teams.
It was a resounding victory for Barça (6-1) and marked the start of Pep’s dominance in European football. Now, seven months later, the coach explains his ideas to the player who will implement the strategy again.
‘The minute Xavi or Andrés [Iniesta] break between the lines and give you the ball I want you to head straight for Casillas’ goal.’
It was a secret between the two. Nobody else would know about the plans until Pep explained to Tito Vilanova the following day in the team hotel.
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