Pep Guardiola's perfectly sweary description of his legendary Barcelona side
By Tom Gott
Former Barcelona manager Pep Guardiola has recalled just how ruthless his old side were, describing the trophy-driven bunch as 'f*****g killers'.
The 2011/12 season was Guardiola's last at the helm at Camp Nou, and despite missing out on both the La Liga and Champions League titles, the season still ended on a high as Barcelona beat Athletic Club 3-0 to lift the Copa del Rey in Guardiola's final game.
It was his final meeting in Spain with long-time friend Marcelo Bielsa, and in an interview with TV3, Guardiola admitted it was that game that helped him see his Barcelona side were just built differently to the rest.
"That day there was a more emotional personal issue of mine that was more pronounced than in other finals, but I tried to stay calm," he recalled.
"I remember when I came out on the pitch I saw the tension in the faces of Athletic Club's players. Barça, on the other hand, seemed to be playing a friendly. They were used to it. They knew they would win."
? Final Copa del Rey 2012
— FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona_es) April 23, 2020
?? @_Pedro17_ pic.twitter.com/UuYnuYxqa7
Barcelona roared into a lead after just three minutes after Pedro fired home from close range, and Lionel Messi made it two with a clever finish of his own 17 minutes later.
Pedro put the final nail in Athletic's coffin in the 25th minute with an excellent curling effort from range, and with Barcelona so comfortable in the game, it was alleged that both sides met at half-time and agreed to play out the remaining 45 minutes with little effort to ensure nobody got injured in the build-up to Euro 2012.
"I can tell you with complete certainty that this was not the case," Guardiola said of the rumours. "Marcelo Bielsa's teams are educated in resilience and never give up.
"And those Barça players, if they could score five goals, they did, and if they could score eight, they would get eight.
"They were very good people, but on the pitch, they were f*****g killers."
The trophy was Guardiola's 14th in just four years as Barcelona boss, after which he called time on his career in Spain and jetted off to Bayern Munich, where he would win another seven trophies in a successful three-year spell in Germany.