Players united in Guardiola praise

One of the themes during FC Barcelona's triumphant end to the Spanish domestic season has been the constant self-deprecation of debutant coach Josep Guardiola.

Humble attitude
During an interview for the UEFA Champions League Final official programme, Guardiola told uefa.com: "To make Barça play well isn't difficult because the players are very good. Given the philosophy of the club, another coach will come along one day and do the same thing." That, however, belies the transformation in fitness, attitude and intensity which has made Barça league winners, Copa del Rey holders and aspirant European champions.

'Confidence grew'
The maestro himself, Wednesday's opponent Sir Alex Ferguson, has publicly stated how impressed he has been, and even though Guardiola wants to hand all the credit to his squad, their message is that they want to send some right back. "Pep arrived a year ago and immediately transmitted an enormous amount of pride in our work, ambition and hunger," said Lionel Messi. "He won our confidence from the first day because we could see that things were being done correctly and then when results started to flow the confidence grew with them."

Opening loss
Things, of course, did not actually start all that well. A 1-0 defeat at CD Numancia and a 1-1 home draw with Real Racing Club brought howls of protest from a very jumpy local media and grumbles from the fans. However, Eidur Gudjohnsen reveals that they were alone in their doubts. "It's difficult to explain, but we noticed from the first day," he told uefa.com. "We lost the first league game and everyone was saying 'here we go again', but we players noticed straight away that this year would be something extraordinary. You sense it in the way you train, you sense it in the motivation the manager gives you and we knew from the first day that we were capable of doing something."

Crucial details
The man known as the leader of the orchestra, and a strong candidate for Barça's player of the season notwithstanding all the goals scored by Thierry Henry, Samuel Eto’o and Messi, Xavi Hernández picks out the order and discipline demanded by Guardiola as having had an important impact. "'The Mister' has instilled those qualities on and off the pitch," confirmed the midfielder. "In pre-season, he was right on top of us, demanding intensity of work, demanding repetitions and demanding focus. I could see that everyone knew that this was a train which you either jumped on right away or it would pass you by.

'Magnificent year'
"You notice a flood of little details which have become immensely important. Food, weight, timekeeping, body fat – fundamentals which just need that little bit of extra emphasis. If a club has an atmosphere where a minute late here and there doesn't matter or an extra kilo isn't a problem, then important details get lost. Pep came along, just the same as he was when he was my team-mate and told us: 'Believe in me, trust in me and we'll do well.' It has been a magnificent year, but what people don't see quite so much is what fun it has been training under him. The season has flown by and I've enjoyed myself like a little kid."