Barça’s golden age and its ruling triumvirate

Even against our better judgment we tend to imbue our sporting heroes with characteristics they may not possess. This can often lead to disappointment. What passes for fluency on the pitch is seldom matched with any articulacy off it. Lionel Messi, arguably the best player of his generation, is no exception. The Argentinian’s inability to communicate verbally has rendered him an enigma.

In Simon Kuper’s incisive and fascinating new book — one that charts FC Barcelona’s transformation over the past three decades from provincial club to international brand — Messi cuts as elusive a figure on the page as he is does off it. ‘Even now that Messi sometimes talks,’ writes Kuper, ‘he still shows almost no inclination to explain either his art or his power within Barça. It’s not clear that he is able to.’ Fortunately, Kuper, an astute journalist who has always brought intelligence to writing about the game, is well-placed to give an explanation. He has been able to draw on the ‘200-plus notebooks’ that he has amassed since 1998 and has interviewed most people associated with the club.

To understand Barça’s golden age (2008-2015), Kuper has focused on the triumvirate of Johan Cruyff, Pep Guardiola and Messi (the book is essentially split into three parts) and their common footballing culture. Cryff and Guardiola are more straightforward propositions, whereas, as we know, Messi is not. Kuper learns ‘by watching [the Argentinian] closely, and by listening to people who have watched him even more closely’. The ritual is always the same. In the opening minutes, Messi strolls around the pitch and observes the opposition set up their positions. He ignores a pass, unwilling to engage. Guardiola, his former manager, explains it thus: ‘After five, ten minutes, he has the map in his eyes and in his brain, to know exactly where is the space and what is the panorama.’