136 136 March 2016 March 2016 FourFourTwo.comFourFourTwo.com
DOMEn EC TORREn T
Assistant coachAt Guardiola’s side since 2007,
Torrent has evolved from doing
scouting for Barcelona B to becoming
assistant coach at Bayern Munich.
Torrent stayed in the Catalan capital
a year longer than Guardiola, who
eventually persuaded him to move to
Germany as his second-in-command.
Never without an iPad on the
bench, Torrent is credited with
convincing Guardiola to play
erstwhile full-back Philipp Lahm as a
central midfielder for the first time in
an official game (the 2013 UEFA
Super Cup against Chelsea).
“All the pieces fell together with
that decision,” Guardiola later said.
“If we win anything, it’s because
of that.”CARLES PLAn CHART
Head of analysisPlanchart arrived in Munich at the
same time as Torrent, providing the
Bundesliga champions with in-game
analysis of Bayern’s patterns of play
from the stands to Torrent’s iPad.
Guardiola, Torrent and Planchart then
feed this into the half-time team talk.
But it is his forensic dossiers on
upcoming opponents that Guardiola
appreciates most. Frequently working
two weeks ahead of himself,
Planchart and his team review the
opposition’s previous six matches,
with 50-60 bite-size moves adding
further detail.
Planchart’s work is available
the day after the previous game
and shapes training for the
following week.MAn EL ESTIARTE
Personal assistantOne of the finest water polo
players of all time ( he’s known as
the sport’s Maradona), Estiarte met
Guardiola during the 1992 Barcelona
Olympics and they’ve been firm
friends ever since. He was head of
external relations at Barça, and
joined Bayern Munich as Pep’s
personal assistant.
Before the shootout in the 2013
UEFA Super Cup, Guardiola used
Estiarte’s water polo prowess to
inspire victory over Jose Mourinho’s
Chelsea. “He’s the best penalty-
taker in the world,” Pep told his
players. “I’ve learned two things
from Manel: don’t change your mind,
and believe you’re going to score.”
No Bayern player missed.LOREn ZO BUEn AVEn TURA
Fitness coachWithout Buenaventura’s training
ground exercises, the Guardiola
coaching model would fall apart.
Buenaventura is a disciple of Paco
Seirul-lo, the fitness coach for Johan
Cruyff’s Barcelona, who tutored
Guardiola in the late ’80s, and he
passionately shares the Bayern
boss’ belief that all training
exercises must be carried out with
a ball, at maximum intensity, for
their ceaseless attacking model to
properly function.
In short, Buenaventura is the
brains behind training – which, in
many ways, makes him the brains
behind the entire Guardiola
backroom operation.PEP’S En TOURAGE
Coming together at Barcelona, Guardiola’s now-established team followed him to Bavaria
PEP
GUARDIOLA