Quotes from Guillem Balagué

The pre-match talks are in the hotel if it is an away game, or, if it is a home game, in the Pictures room. First of all he shows footage of the opponents, explaining their strong points and how we can hurt them. The strategy is explained, both ours and the opponents'.

a passer of the ball positioned in front of the defence who could provide the platform from which every Barcelona attack would begin.

In life there are two ways of telling people what to do: either give them orders or set an example and encourage them to follow it. Pep is very much of the latter school of thought.

wanted the fans to see that the team was going to work hard, run, play good football, and take pride in their work on the pitch.

On one occasion Guardiola explained that there are two types of coaches: those who think problems solve themselves and those who solve problems. Guardiola belongs to the group that seeks solutions. That is his real passion.

Searching for that flash of inspiration, that moment, the magical moment: 'I've got it. I've got it. This is how we are going to win.

For Guardiola, tactical concepts are taken in if the players have the right attitude and understand what they are doing.

Johan, who imposed the criteria for quick movements of the ball, the obligation to open up the field in order to find space. To fill the centre of the pitch in order to play having numerical superiority, and, I don't know, introduce a lot more things so that everybody knew how Barça played and, above all, so it would be known how to do it in the future.

He gave a different edge to the defensive side of the game and that is where Barça became strong and attractive: losing the ball but then, within five seconds, trying to win it back. The principle is simple and comes from as far back as van Gaal: after losing the ball there are five seconds of pressure to win it back; if it isn't recovered, the defensive phase would begin and players should quickly drop back.

Discover constantly where the free man is and through passing, passing, passing, work the ball into forward positions.' The high technical quality of Barcelona's players enabled them to make passes that other teams simply could not even attempt; Xavi, Iniesta, Messi could receive the ball and pass or move out of the tightest of corners.

Believe, believe with all of your hearts that we can score, because then we will definitely score.' There was also the tactical instruction: they should play fast balls down the wings, because Chelsea allowed them to start moves from the back and neither Anelka nor Malouda closed down that area particularly well.

always accumulate more players than your rival right from the start of a move to gain the initiative. So, having three players near the ball if the other team have two, or four players if they have three.

within that meticulous preparation there co-existed a high degree of expression, always bearing in mind that this is football, that players must think in tenths of a second and that there should be some freedom to show on the pitch, to do things that weren't planned off it.

Little by little, the plan changed because one of the pillars of Pep's methods is based on the evolution of the process. Guardiola has never believed in absolute truths, which gives him flexibility when it comes to interpreting life.

Abidal explains that before he arrived at Barcelona, every time he was called into action on the pitch, as a defender he'd been taught to focus on winning the ball. As soon as he arrived at Barcelona, he was taught to think one step ahead about what he could do with it once he'd got hold of it.

the ball goes to the other central defender and this one makes a vertical pass – not to the midfielders, who have their back turned to the ball, but to those moving between lines, Andrés Iniesta or Lionel Messi, or even directly to the striker. Then they play the second ball with short lay-offs, either to the wingers who have cut inside or the midfielders, who now have the game in front of them.

More than ever we must move, move, move and constantly create superiority. We'll open up the pitch and we'll look for the wings and then there will be space down the centre.

The German team became more German than ever. They used in their performance the 'Mia San Mia' motto that the players wear on their shirts, which on the pitch manifests itself in a supreme belief, intensity and constant waves of attack.

Pep had realised that one of the few weaknesses of the Atlético defence was with second balls. They defended so deep that if his players attacked as a unit and were already around the box they could attack those rebounds.

all of them, no matter how many times they won, carried around one commandment: 'I am in a huge club even in the hard times. I try not to betray the club's principles nor the idea of team play nor the legacy of my predecessors.

On the way to the tiny Los Pajaritos stadium (capacity just 9,025), Coldplay's 'Viva la Vida' blared from the speakers on the team bus. That song, a favourite of Pep's, would become the soundtrack to the rest of the season – the anthem for Guardiola's era, even. When that song played, the players knew the moment had arrived. It was a warning. The call to action.

The players are made of skin and bone and they too like this contact. Even if it is a slap. Pep touches constantly, hugs, pushes them, to motivate them, to keep them on their toes, to make them feel loved.

That August evening at Los Pajaritos, el mister, as coaches are known in Spain, told his players something that he has repeated several times since. 'We shouldn't lose sight of the target.' And the target wasn't to win titles, but to achieve a certain way of playing. If they stuck to their principles, titles would be the most logical consequence. Never losing sight of their goal would be one of the keys to success.

In future they must place themselves more cleverly to receive the pass, and to start pressuring their opponents more quickly.