【Perez公器私用練英文017&018】 Pep Guardiola, Jose Mourinho and the game that changed everything Guardiola、Mourinho與那場改變一切的比賽

【Perez公器私用練英文017&018】

Pep Guardiola, Jose Mourinho and the game that changed everything

Guardiola、Mourinho與那場改變一切的比賽

原文網址：https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/68082238

專欄作家：Tom Reynolds

新聞日期：2024/01/30

A decision in time sends history down two very different tracks.

一瞬間的決定會把歷史送往兩個截然不同的結果。

In 1998, a Hollywood film starring Gwyneth Paltrow catapulted the term 'Sliding Doors' into popular lexicon.

1998年，由葛妮絲派特羅主演的好萊塢電影【雙面情人】讓「滑動門」彈上了流行文化的新字詞。

Ten years later, football had its own Sliding Doors moment.

十年後，足球迎來了自己的滑動門時刻。

In the summer of 2008, Barcelona - managed by Frank Rijkaard - were a club stalled and set to fall.

2008年夏天，Frank Rijkaard麾下的巴薩，是個停滯不前、準備殞落的俱樂部。

(以下稱呼球隊為「巴薩」；稱呼地名為「巴薩隆納」)

A second trophyless season in succession had ended with Barca third in La Liga and suffering ignominy at the Bernabeu.

巴薩有連續第二個四大皆空的賽季，以西甲第三作結，並且在伯納烏球場蒙受羞辱。

With Real Madrid confirmed as champions in the days before, Barcelona had to give their arch-rivals a guard of honour on to the pitch before their league meeting.

在前些日子已經確認奪冠的皇馬，在聯賽會面之前，巴薩要在球場上給他們的勁敵列隊慶祝榮譽。

The embarrassment didn't stop there. A 4-1 thrashing followed, with the Madrid fans chanting "Laporta please stay!" to Barca's under-pressure president Joan Laporta.

丟臉還不僅於此。緊隨而來被4-1打爆，加上馬德里粉絲對當時頗有壓力的巴薩主席 Joan Laporta「敦請Laporta留下來」的不斷調侃。

Off the pitch, dressing-room ringleader Ronaldinho was spending more time in the city's nightclubs than banging in goals.

而到了場下，更衣室領袖Ronaldinho比起為球隊帶來進球，耗費了更多時間在都會夜店裡頭。

Team discipline seemed to have drained away, with stories of the Brazilian being left to get his head down and sleep off the night's excesses rather than knuckle down in training.

團隊紀律看似一去不回，伴隨著巴西人寧願在徹夜狂歡後倒頭就睡，也不願意在訓練時全力以赴。

Questions over Ronaldinho's weight gain, and penchant for a night out, peppered the front and back pages of Barcelona's newspapers while in press conferences, every question directed at Rijkaard included the word "resign".

Ronaldinho的過重與首重夜生活等問題，在新聞發佈會上，大譟了巴薩隆納報紙的每一頁，每個問題都直擊「Rijkaard下台」。

With the Madrid fans' catcalls still ringing in his ears, Laporta provided his own answer.

伴隨著馬德里粉絲不絕於其爾的倒讚聲，Laporta丟出了他的回應。

Less than 24 hours after the embarrassment in Madrid, Rijkaard was sacked.

在馬德里受辱後不到24小時，Rijkaard就被解職了。

Who would replace him?

但......誰能夠來取代他？

Top of the billing, and top of the list for any football pragmatist, was Jose Mourinho.

榜上第一個名字，也是任何足球實用主義者的第一名是，就是Jose Mourinho。

Mourinho had a positive historical relationship with the club as assistant to previous managers Bobby Robson and Louis van Gaal.

Mourinho有著跟俱樂部正向的歷史情誼，透過擔任曾經的教練Bobby Robson跟Louis van Gaal團隊的助教。

He also had a CV surpassing anyone else in Europe at the time, following Uefa Cup and Champions League triumphs with Porto, and successive and unprecedented Premier League titles with Chelsea.

當時他也有超越歐洲群帥的履歷，包含了帶領波圖奪下了歐足總杯(現歐霸)與歐冠獎盃，與在切爾西成功、拿下空前的英超首冠。

But, rather than opt for the A-list football celebrity, Barcelona opted for someone from the B-list. Literally.

但，巴薩隆納比起從足球紅人的一級名單，實際上選擇了來自次級名單的人選。

They chose their own B team manager, who was entirely unproven at the top level, and had spent the previous campaign - his first as a boss - in Spain's fourth tier and a Catalan regional division.

他們選擇了他們B隊的教練，完全沒有在頂級聯賽證明自己過，並且先前賽季只在(也是他的第一份教練工作)西班牙第四級聯賽、加泰地方聯賽打拼的教練。

The decision?Guardiola over Mourinho.

決定為何？Guardiola還是Mourinho。

To understand why, and to get to the bottom of that decision that changed football, you have to dig deep into Barcelona DNA's where poetry, not pragmatism, is the primary motivator and one man's methods, opinions and gut instinct trump everything.

想了解為什麼，並且了解這個改變足球的決策以何為底，要先深挖到巴薩的DNA是以詩意浪漫為首要動力(而不是實用主義)，並且個人的方法、意見與直覺勝過了一切。

As the new BBC Sport documentary Pep Guardiola: Chasing Perfection explores, to understand Pep, you have to understand Johan Cruyff.

在透過BBC體育的新紀錄片【Guardiola：追逐完美】揭示的，去了解Guardiola之前，你需要去了解Johan Cruyff。

Cruyff is synonymous with Barcelona, winning La Liga in 1974 and the Copa del Rey in 1978 as a player, before lifting four consecutive Spanish top-flight titles, and the European Cup, as the club's manager between 1988 and 1996.

在1988~1996年間擔任俱樂部總教練的Cruyff，帶隊拿下西班牙頂級榜首四連霸與歐洲盃(現歐冠)，並且之前在球員時期贏得了1974年西甲、1978年的國王杯，它等同巴薩的代名詞。

And Cruyff wielded an incredible influence over Guardiola's career.

並且Cruyff對Guardiola的揮動了驚人的影響力。

It was Cruyff who plucked a 19-year-old Guardiola from the Barcelona reserves in 1990 and catapulted him into an all-conquering first team full of global stars such as Michael Laudrup to Ronald Koeman. Cruyff saw in the teenage Guardiola a quality that endures.

Cruyff在1990年把19歲的Guardiola從巴薩調上他有著Michael Laudrup、Ronald Koeman等等全球巨星，所向披靡的一線隊。Cruyff看到Guardiola年少時就藏忍著的資質。

Spanish journalist Lu Martin knows Guardiola better than most, having ghost-written his little-known 2001 book La Meva Gent, El Meu Futbol (My People, My Football in Catalan).

西班牙記者Lu Martin比大部分人更熟知Guardiola，曾經作為Guardiola2001年小有名氣的書「 La Meva Gent, El Meu Futbol」(在加泰隆尼亞，我的人、我的足球)。

"In Catalonia, we say 'seny' and 'rauxa'. [Legendary Barcelona captain Carles] Puyol has 'rauxa' - impulse, drive," Martin says.

「在加泰隆尼亞，我們會說 'seny'跟'rauxa'。(巴薩的傳奇隊長)普約爾有'rauxa'—衝勁、幹勁，」Martin言道。

"The 'seny' - the brains - at FC Barcelona was Pep.

「在巴薩，’Seny’—也就是大腦—就是Pep。」

"Pep brought sense to the team - because Pep could understand everything Johan wanted from him.

「Pep為球隊帶來了條理—因為Pep能夠了解Cruyff跟他要求的每個指令。」

"Johan had two sons. Jordi, his son by blood, and his sports son...Pep."

「Cruyff有兩個兒子，有血緣關係那個是喬帝，運動上的兒子......就是Pep了。」

Jordi Cruyff echoes Martin's assessment of his father and Guardiola's close relationship.

喬帝Cruyff回應了Martin對其父親與Guardiola深厚情誼的評價。

Jordi remembers his father having supreme confidence in Guardiola as a budding manager after his protege wound down his playing career with underwhelming spells at Brescia, Roma, Al-Ahli and Mexican club Dorados.

喬帝還記得他的父親對於Guardiola作為萌芽中的教練有著超然的信心，在他的門生在Brescia, Roma, Al-Ahli 跟墨西哥俱樂部Dorados結束逐漸平庸的球員生涯以後。

"I know in that time Pep and my father had a lot of contact," Jordi Cruyff says of the months after Guardiola's retirement in 2006.

Jordi談到Pep2006年退役後的幾個月時說道：「我知道那時候，家父跟Guardiola有著很多聯繫。」

"I think my father had this kind of intuition that he could feel when somebody is going to be a good coach."

「我想家父有著他能感覺到誰能成為一個好教練的直覺。」

A frequent criticism of Guardiola is that all three of his top-level managerial jobs - Barcelona, Bayern Munich and Manchester City - have been clubs with big-name players and big pockets.

一個對Guardiola時有的批評是他執教的三個俱樂部都是有大球星、大錢包的俱樂部——巴薩、拜仁、曼城。

The inference is that the Spaniard couldn't work his magic in a smaller, more humble, setting.

這個推敲直指西班牙人沒辦法在小型的、更簡陋的配置下施展他的魔法。

It didn't get much smaller than Barcelona B.

但沒有比巴薩B隊更小的球隊了。

"Yes, I was a player, but I'll start from zero as a coach," said Guardiola, then 37, in his first press conference in charge of Barcelona B.

「對啦，我是個球員，但我在教練的職位上將會一切從零開始。」在37歲的Guardiola執教巴薩B隊的第一場新聞發佈會，他如此說。

It was a surprise he had taken the job, given a role as head of the academy - seen as more prestigious - was also on the table.

他執起這個教鞭實屬意外，因為被認為更有威望的青訓院長身份也在考慮之內。

However, Barcelona B, like Guardiola, were starting from scratch. In the previous season, they had been relegated after failing to win their final 10 matches.

然而巴薩B隊也跟Guardiola一樣要從頭開始努力。先前的賽季，他們因為最後的十連不勝而慘遭降級。

Guardiola's first match in charge was a pre-season friendly played on a tiny, artificial pitch against Banyoles. Small pitches and, when matches were played on grass, bobbly surfaces were a theme in a tricky start to managerial life.

Guardiola第一場比賽是跟一個小型、人造球場Banyoles的季前友誼賽。小球場、並且在綠蔭場比賽時、顛頗的表面是這場執教生涯的弔詭開端。

Barcelona B won one of their first three matches.

巴薩B隊在前三場比賽贏了一場。

After a 2-0 defeat by lowly Manresa, who were eventually relegated, Guardiola endured his first test of faith. Could his playing style - prioritising possession over position on the pitch - thrive in the testing conditions of the fourth tier?

在2-0兵敗最終降級的較弱對手Manresa之後，Guardiola忍受了第一場信心測試。他能夠在第四級聯賽的測試環境下茁壯他的比賽風格——控球率比球場上的站位更實用——嗎？

By the time he arrived at training on the Wednesday after that defeat, he had made his mind up.

在被擊敗之後的週三，他來到訓練場、釐清了自己的想法。

"I had thought we have to change because the pitches are so small," he says.

「我曾經想過，『因為球場太小了，我們要有點改變』。」他說。

"I doubted for two days. But, in that moment, I decided - if we could win and play quite good football on a small pitch, I could do it at a higher level with better players and better pitches.

「我存疑了整整兩天。但在這個當下我想清楚了：如果我們能在小型球場打出好的足球，我也能在更高級別、更好的球員、更好的球場上做到這件事。」

"I arrived at training and said: 'This is what I believe.' The alternatives, the ways we looked at changing, they did not convince me. That is why I could not change.

「我到了訓練場然後說：『(上段)這是我所相信的。』這些選擇、我們去看改變的方式，他們都沒有說服我，那是為什麼我不願意改變。

"It was an important moment because I was new, I was not experienced. Aged 37, never trained big players. I had to prove myself."

「那是個重大的瞬間，因為我知道我新來的、又菜、又才37歲、又沒有帶過大咖，我需要去證明自己。」

One man he didn't need to prove himself to was Domenec Torrent.

如果說誰不用去證明自己的，那就是Domenec Torrent了。

Torrent had been managing fellow fourth-tier outfit Girona. When Guardiola, a man he had revered as a player came knocking, Torrent jumped at the chance to join him.

Torrent執教同樣屬於第四級聯賽的吉羅納已久。當Guardiola，他在球員時期景仰的人來敲門時，他跳上了加入Guardiola的機會列車。

Torrent spent 11 years at Guardiola's side as his assistant before leaving Manchester City for a head coach role with New York City FC in 2018.

在2018年為了紐約城總教練的職位離開曼城之前，Torrent花了11年在Guardiola身側擔任助教。

"I always say Pep has great powers of seduction," he says.

「我常說，Pep有著蠱惑人心的巨大力量」Torrent說。

"He's someone who can convince players with his everyday work with them. He's a sponge.

「他可以說服球員每天跟他一起共事。他就像是一塊海棉。」

"He learns very quickly about everything and everyone.

「他對於每件事情、每個人都學得很快。」

"He turned Barcelona B into a very compact side who played very good football. And he put across to the players his ideas, which were totally different from anything they'd heard up until then.

「他把巴薩B隊變得精實，並且打著很好的球。並且他對著球員陳列他的主意——那些他們從來沒聽過、壓根不同的主意。」

"It's true that we built a very good squad."

「我們真的組成了一支厲害的隊伍。」

Sergio Busquets, Pedro and Thiago Alcantara were rookie faces in that squad and Guardiola was the uncompromising, relentless, ruthless driving force at the centre of it.

Sergio Busquets、Pedro、Thiago Alcantara是當時球隊中的新面孔，Guardiola則是球隊中毫不妥協的、不間斷的、不留情的鞭策力。

Professionalism was to the fore. Opposition sides were scouted and video-analysed, a level of detail unheard of in that division at the time.

專業行於最前。對手被偵查、影像分析，對於細節掌握的等級甚至是當層級在當時從來未聞的。

An 11pm curfew was introduced - as were fines.

引進了晚上11點的宵禁——與隨之而來的罰款。

"Pep had very clear boundaries, he did not let anybody do anything that he thought was out of place," Pep's then-captain Marc Valiente has said. "He had a very clear code. You had to adhere to that in terms of the rules, in terms of fines, and I think that was fair."

Pep有著很清楚的界線，他不讓任何人做超出他允許範圍內的任何事情，」Marc Valiente，Pep當時的隊長這樣說：「他有著很清楚的指令。你得要堅持這些規則的細則、罰錢的細則，而且我覺得這些是公正的。」

Barcelona's then-sporting director Txiki Begiristain - now in the same job at Manchester City - also remembers Guardiola's pursuit of perfection.

時任巴薩體育總監、現在在曼城擔任相同職位的的Txiki Begiristain，也記得Guardiola對完美的追求。

"It was unbelievable," Begiristain says. "In England, the level would be like League Two.

Begiristain說：「難以置信，(巴薩B隊)在英格蘭會像是英乙的等級」

"Pep was working in League Two like he was in [charge of] the [Barcelona] first team: Looking after the players, food, chefs, travelling, recording the games.

「Pep把在英乙工作當成像是巴薩一線隊。注意球員、食物、廚師、去哪旅遊、紀錄比賽。」

"He was really amazing. He was thinking 'one day I'm gonna be a first-team coach, I wanna work like this'.

「他真的超讓人驚艷。他在想的事情是『如果有一天我成為一線隊教練，我就會這樣工作』。」

"And so, he was already doing it in the fourth tier. It was crazy."

「並且，他已經在第四級聯賽這樣做了，超瘋的。」

After their inauspicious start, Guardiola's Barcelona B's form dramatically improved en route to winning promotion.

在他們凶險的開局後，Guardiola的巴薩B隊戲劇性的進步到升級之路。

Guardiola's work-rate won hearts in the boardroom, most notably with the most influential Barcelona face of all.

Guardiola的工作效率贏得了董事會的心，值得被紀錄的過程，帶來了巴薩最有影響力的人物。

"I remember that Johan Cruyff visited a lot with his wife to see the Barca B games," Torrent says.

「我記得Cruyff多次偕妻造訪來觀看巴薩B隊比賽。」Torrent說。

"And, strangely, I saw that instead of watching the game, he was watching Pep, how he managed, how he behaved, how he moved: his body language.

「奇怪的是，我看到除了看比賽，他也在看著Pep的肢體語言，看他如何帶隊、如何表現、如何移動。」

"And I remember mentioning to Pep: 'That's the second time Johan's been to see you and he was just watching you.' All that made sense when Pep took over the first team.

「然後我記得我提醒了Pep：『那是第二次Johan來看你，而且只看著你。』這些讓Pep帶隊一線隊順理成章了起來。」

"I remembered those afternoons when Johan came to see him, not the football."

「我記得那些Johan來看他，而不是來看足球的下午。」

Promotion cost Guardiola a fair bit of money.

升級花費了Guardiola大筆的金錢——

At the beginning of the campaign, he had promised to buy the team lunch if they won three games in a row. It happened on five occasions.

在賽季初，他允諾球隊如果三連勝就幫他們午餐買單。五場比賽後，這件事情就發生了。

The team's most important performance, though, was to come in a friendly against Rijkaard's increasingly disjointed and disengaged first team, watched by a handful of spectators.

球隊至關重要的一場的表演，來自一場跟Rijkaard急遽脫節的、散漫的一線隊的友誼賽，被

"I don't think I run and chased the ball as much ever," former Barcelona forward Eidur Gudjohnsen says.

「我從來不覺得我的跑動跟追球有這麼多過」前巴薩前鋒Eidur Gudjohnsen 說。

Combined with Cruyff's weekly scouting reports, the friendly was key to persuading the Barcelona board that Pep was the man for the top job.

結合Cruyff每週探查報告，這場友誼賽是說服巴薩董事會Guardiola是一線隊教練職位人選的關鍵。

"They had a certain way of playing," Gudjohnsen continues.

「他們有著一套打法。」Gudjohnsen 說。

"It was almost as if we couldn't get near them. I'm pretty sure some of the first-team players didn't take it as seriously as we should have.

「我們幾乎無法欺近他們。我蠻確定有些一線隊球員挺沒有給予我們應有的認真。」

"But I still remember that I thought: 'Wow, how are they playing? Why is there always a spare man?'

「但我還記得我我當下在想什麼：『哇，他們在踢什麼？為什麼那裏永遠有一個冗員？』」

"It was very difficult to pressure them."

「實在很難去給他們施壓。」

For the first team, the match was an embarrassment. Ronaldinho was withdrawn after just 10 minutes. Deco also reportedly struggled in the face of the relentless reserves.

對一線隊來說，比賽結果蠻難為情的。Ronaldinho在十分鐘後就收兵下場了，據報Deco也在無情的替補底下苦苦掙扎。

Pep's pressure was to prove too much for the Barcelona board as well.

Pep的施壓對於巴薩董事會已經證明了遠遠太多。

A combination of the B team's promotion, the friendly farce and Rijkaard's reticence to discipline his wayward squad forced a change at the top.

結合了B隊的升級、友誼賽鬧劇、與Rijkaard任性的隊員們紀律的不發一語，迫使了最後更換教練。

The choice was clear. Europe's top dog, the all-conquering disciplinarian Jose Mourinho? Or the poetic choice, the possession-obsessed Pep Guardiola?

有的選項已經明朗。全歐洲最紅極一時的選擇，那個所向披靡、紀律嚴明的Mourinho？還是比較浪漫的選擇，控球率魔人Guardiola？

Xavier Sala-i-Martin was at the centre of those conversations as Barcelona treasurer and a board member between 2004 and 2010.

Xavier Sala-i-Martin作為2004~2010年間巴薩的財務主管與董事會成員，是這些對話討論的核心所在。

"Everybody knows we have this problem," he recounts in Pep Guardiola: Chasing Perfection.

「大家都知道我們有問題，」他在瓜吹紀錄片【Guardiola：追求完美】陳述。

"Ronaldinho plays bongos until two in the morning every night. How do you stop it? We need a sergeant, a general.

「Ronaldinho每晚打手鼓打到凌晨兩點。你要怎麼阻止他？我們需要一個中士、一個將軍。」

"Who is the greatest general in the world? Jose Mourinho right?

「誰是世界最棒的將軍？Mourinho，對嗎？」

"Given the problems we had, the solution seem obvious. Unfortunately, Mourinho doesn't fit with Barcelona's DNA.

「把我們的問題提出，答案就很明顯了。不幸的是，Mourinho並不適配於巴薩的DNA。」

"Barcelona DNA has many aspects. One of them is the way we play.

「巴薩DNA有很多層面。我們的踢法是其中之一。」

"We inherited these from Johan Cruyff. We win when we play Dutch-style football. The best student of Cruyff is Pep.

「我們從Cruyff處繼承了這些。我們踢荷式足球的時候取勝。Cruyff最好的學生則是Guardiola」

"But Mourinho has won the Champions League. So there was a big debate.

「但Mourinho贏過歐冠。這引起了激辯。」

"But Joan Laporta said: 'We cannot go Mourinho's direction….he doesn't play our style. He's a defensive manager with counter-attacks. That's not the way we play.'

「但Laporta說：『我們不能走上Mourinho的路子......他踢得不是我們的風格。他是個防守反擊型的教練，那不是我們的踢法。』」

"And also, he's not a real gentleman. The way he tries to manipulate, he doesn't act the Barcelona way on the field."

「除此之外。他不是個真君子。他試著操縱比賽的方式，並不真的是巴薩在足球場上會做的方式。」

It still could have gone either way as Sala-i-Martin remembers but, for, appropriately the intervention of one man.

如 Sala-i-Martin 所記得的，事情可能會朝著任何一個方向發展，但是需要有人適當的介入，

"A lot of members of the board were in favour of Mourinho," he said.

「許多董事會成員更喜愛Mourinho，」他說。

"Laporta consulted with Johan [Cruyff] and said do you think Pep's ready?

「Laport諮詢了Johan(Cruyff)，問他覺得Pep準備好了嗎？」

"And Johan said yes. And when Johan says yes, it's yes."

「Johan稱是。然後Johan認可的時候，那就是大局已定了。」

Ultimately, A-list Barcelona royalty insisted on an untested B team boss.

超乎想像的，沒接受過挑戰的B隊總教頭，榮登上了巴薩的首選名單。

And football has not been the same since.

從此，足球不一樣了。