In February last year, Fernandinho started
packing some of his belongings away and
began thinking about shipping them back to
Brazil. He was convinced that City would
release him when his contract expired that
summer. Rodri, the £63 million signing from
Atletico Madrid, had taken Fernandinho’s
place and the Brazil midfielder wanted first-
team football.
But Guardiola and Lillo convinced
Fernandinho to stay for one more season and
the decision paid dividends. The midfielder
started only ten Premier League games, but
his work off the pitch has been so vital that
Guardiola’s staff regard him as one of the five
most important footballers to have played
under the Catalan since he became manager
in 2016.
Fernandinho is close to Lillo, who speaks
only limited English but is fluent in Portuguese.
Lillo sits next to Guardiola on the bench. He is
Guardiola’s go-to man if he needs advice and
helps to keep his head clear in times of crisis.
If Lillo wants to talk to an English-speaking
player at the CFA, he will call Fernandinho over
to translate, but the midfielder is much more
than just a translator.
The players confide in him — he is the man
who links the dressing room and manager —
and Fernandinho has given rousing team talks
on a number of occasions this season.
At his leaving party last Monday,
Fernandinho was presented with a signed
picture. The players and staff had all scribbled a
farewell message. Txiki Begiristain, City’s
director of football, wrote: “You were the best.”GLIMPSE OF THE FUTURECity have enjoyed euphoric moments this
season — the home victory over Real Madrid,
the two wins against Chelsea and the tough tie
against Atletico Madrid — but according to
those who know him best, Guardiola was at his
happiest this season in the build-up to the
Carabao Cup match against Wycombe
Wanderers on September 21.
Why? Because he was excited to see how Cole
Palmer, James McAtee, Josh Wilson-Esbrand,
CJ Egan-Riley, Finley Burns, Luke Mbete and
Roméo Lavia would perform.
Guardiola is a big believer in the academy and
is keen to temper the hype surrounding Palmer,
but privately the Catalan and his coaches have
high hopes for the 20-year-old attacking
midfielder, who, they think, can quite easily go
toe to toe with Silva, De Bruyne and Gundogan
in training.PALACE WAKE-UP CALLAs autumn turned to winter, City started to
improve, but they would still experience more
bumps in the road.
One of them came on October 30, when City
lost 2-0 to Crystal Palace. Aymeric Laporte, who
was sent off just before half-time, apologised to
his team-mates. They applauded him for havingthe courage to admit he had let them down.
Guardiola was impressed.
During one discussion with friends about how
to win a league, Guardiola highlighted the
importance of long unbeaten sequences. “Runs
like that bring you titles,” he said.
Thankfully for him, his team responded to the
Palace loss by winning 12 games in a row, the
first of which was at Old Trafford, where City
claimed a 2-0 victory in one of the most one-
sided Manchester derbies in recent memory.
Not for the only time this season, Rodri was
outstanding. The 25-year-old is one of the
unsung heroes of this campaign and Guardiola’s
coaches regard him as one of the best five
defensive midfielders in the world.
Guardiola also likes the fact that Rodri is
down to earth and not bothered about fame.
You will regularly see Rodri walking around the
Northern Quarter in Manchester with his
girlfriend.
He is a good listener too. One source
described Rodri as a “sponge” because he is
brilliant at absorbing Guardiola’s ideas.
By the middle of January, City were 14 points
clear of Liverpool and looking to their
Champions League last-16 tie against Sporting
Lisbon with excitement.REAL BLOWCity’s last trip to Portugal had ended in
disappointment. After losing to Chelsea in the
Champions League final, the players returned to
the Porto Palacio hotel for a small reception.
One staff member said “it was like a morgue”.
The defeat hit the players hard. Had they won,
the players would have attended a huge party in
the Palacio da Bolsa, the grand 19th century
former stock exchange, which the club had
reserved at great expense. The champagne they
had ordered remained uncorked.
City’s trip to Lisbon in February was more
successful. They hammered Sporting 5-0 in the
first leg. After drawing 0-0 at home, City
progressed.
The executives who travelled to Nyon for the
quarter-final draw in March had an idea of who
they wanted to avoid. The worst draw, in their
eyes, would be a tie against an English team.
The second worst would be a meeting with
Atletico Madrid.
When City drew Atletico, Guardiola knew
their opponents would waste time at the Etihad
so he showed a video to the ball kids to make
sure they knew about the importance of
returning the ball as soon as possible.
City scraped through 1-0 on aggregate. The
second leg was a stressful affair for staff, who
did not like to hear chants of “Pep Guardiola,
hijo de puta” (“Pep Guardiola, son of a bitch”)
ringing around the Wanda Metropolitano; there
was a post-match brawl in the tunnel.
Real Madrid’s arrival in the semi-final caused
City logistical problems. Staff were surprised
when Real asked for a section of the Etihad to
be roped off for the wives and
girlfriends of the players to watch
training.
On the pitch, Real gave
City plenty of problems
too. Despite dominating
in the seven-goal
thriller, Guardiola’s
team would take only
a one-goal advantage
into the second leg.
Guardiola’s staff
still cannot explain
how they managed to
throw away a two-goal
aggregate lead at the
Bernabeu. Much like in
Porto the year before, the
atmosphere back at the
team hotel after this
Champions League exit was
sombre.
Some players and their families picked
at a buffet in the lobby at the Ritz. Guardiola
kept his distance. Several players retired to their
rooms early with long faces.PLAYING THROUGH THE PAINOne of the many strengths about this squad is
that they are a tight-knit unit.
The players rallied around each other after
the loss in Spain, but Guardiola knew that hehad to do his bit to raise morale too. He started
by praising the players in his press conference
two days after City were knocked out.
“People say if this group of players doesn’t win
the Champions League, they will be failures. I
completely disagree,” he said passionately.
Guardiola knew that the players, who were off
that day, would read the comments and hoped it
would motivate them.
The evidence suggests that it had the desired
effect. City dropped only two points in their
final four games to pip Liverpool to the title.
That City did so while suffering an injury
crisis made their achievement even more
impressive. Dias, Stones and Kyle Walker
missed matches because of injury. Nathan
Aké played on despite having an ankle injury
that would have normally kept him out for two
weeks. It was a similar case with Fernandinho,
who played all four matches despite a
hamstring issue.
“We are survivors,” one staff member said a
couple of weeks ago.LIVERPOOL FIXPerhaps the most important game of the 12-
match unbeaten run that got City over the line
was the 2-2 draw against Liverpool.
City’s players had prepared extensively for the
match, which was sandwiched between the two
Atletico legs, but Guardiola had one surprise up
his sleeve.
He had asked two videographers who have
been shooting a new City documentary to put
together a montage of the highlights of the
season. Guardiola decided that he would show
it to the players before kick-off in the dressing
room.
He had two stipulations. First, the video’s
backing track must be Fix You (Guardiola is a
big Coldplay fan). Second, the montage had to
contain a clip of each player who has played for
City this season, regardless of their age or status
within the squad.
The idea was to remind the players of their
successes and the fact that they had all played a
role in putting City on the brink of another
Premier League title.
It worked to an extent. City came flying out
of the traps. De Bruyne put City ahead after
only five minutes, but they ended up drawing
2-2. Had City lost that match it would have
put them under even greater pressure from
Liverpool.AND WITH HAALAND THEY WILL
ONLY GET BETTER ...The bad news for City’s rivals is that Guardiola’s
team will be strengthened by the arrival of
Erling Haaland this summer.
When Haaland was deciding where his next
move should be, Guardiola called him for a chat.
The 21-year-old Borussia Dortmund forward
had a number of questions, which Guardiola
answered. The City manager also
explained to Haaland how he
would fit into the team and
what he would expect from
the Norwegian if he
joined. The phone call
went well.
At the same time, in
early February, City
received a call
from Kane’s
representatives
asking if they would
be keen on signing
the striker, but they
said no as they only
had eyes for Haaland.
Guardiola left the rest
up to Begiristain and Omar
Berrada, the chief football
operations officer, who met
Haaland’s representatives in Monte
Carlo on February 3.
Haaland told City that he would be joining
them, rather than Real Madrid or Bayern
Munich, a few weeks ago. Julián Álvarez, the
Argentina striker, will also be joining from River
Plate and others may follow.
All the new signings will be expected to train
hard, absorb the manager’s ideas and play to the
best of their ability otherwise Guardiola will get
his hairdryer out again, just as he did last
October after the Bruges game.
One thing is for sure. Guardiola will be just as
demanding next season as he has been in his
previous six years at City.the times | Monday May 23 2022 1GG 5
thegame
STU FORSTER/GETTY IMAGES
City supporters
celebrate after
their team
sealed a fourth
league title in
five yearsHaving failed to secure a move to Spain last year,
Silva, above, refocused and returned to his best