Guardiola’s ‘last breath’ in his quiet life in Munich

Only seven footballers have played with the Bayern and Barça jerseys along the history: Mark Hugues, Patrick Andersson, Van Bommel, Arturo Vidal, Pepe Reina, Thiago Alcántara and Coutinho. And only three coaches have managed the two clubs: Udo Lattek, Louis Van Gaal and Pep Guardiola. Santpedor’s coach, without a doubt, is the strongest link between the two clubs and the one who obviously won the most titles (21) of all. Pep, what was accompanied by his inseparable Estiarte on his adventure in Munich, led to the Bundesliga many of the postulates that made him triumph in a big way at Barça and, despite leaving with the relative frustration of not winning the Champions League, he led Bayern to a stadium of modernity, which in that line has been looking for new soccer revolutionaries like Nagelsmann.

To follow in Guardiola’s footsteps in Munich, el Schumann’s Bar it is a non-negotiable stop. There the famous encounter with Thomas Tuchel, that that course was on sabbatical after leaving the Mainz, that so much legend has left behind. “It was Tuchel who came to see Guardiola, not Pep who came to Tuchel.” Who speaks is Charles Schumann, owner and founder in 1982 of the American Bar that bears his name on the Maximilianstrasse Munich, although Pep’s favorite was the Day bar (Maffeistrasse, 6), more modest. “He loved his coffee, he went often,” recalls Schumann, a lover of Donostia who presumes that the first intellectual football coach who passed through there was Menotti.

“Pep He was a very close friend of the Schumman household. Before going on vacation to Spain, ever held here the Christmas with his family. “About that meeting with Tuchel, in which it is said they discussed tactics for hours, he is discreet.” The rule of any good bar is do not disturb. Everyone can talk about their things. If they don’t want to do it downstairs, here on the first floor “, he explains in The evil flowers, an upper space of the bar that evokes Baudelaire and acts as reserved; and through which some movie star has also passed such as Jorge Perugorría.

Schumann reveals an anecdote that speaks of Guardiola’s concerns. “In this bar, right here, I saw Pep reading … a book, how do you say it? My last breath, by Luis Buñuel. It’s one of the memories I have of him … “.

Guardiola led a quiet life in Munich. One of the things that surprised him the most was that familiar point that Bayern had, where the operator could eat next to Uli Hoennes with total normality in Säberner Strasse, the headquarters of the Bavarian club. In addition to the Schumman, he had other places of worship: the Brenner, Seerose, in Münchner Freiheit; the Locanda, in the Giesing neighborhood; and the Käfer. Bayern and Buñuel. Names that only a single type can unite like Guardiola.