Access inside the changing room and behind the scenes that any journalist or writer would kill for - Perarnau's insights are astonishing' - Graham Hunter

'Write about everything you see. Be as critical as you like' - Pep Guardiola to Marti Perarnau, summer 2013

Marti Perarnau was given total access to Bayern Munich during season 2013-14. This book represents the first time in the modern era that a writer has got this close to one of the elite teams of world football. At the invitation of Pep Guardiola, he shadowed the Catalan, his staff and his superstar players during training and on matchdays. Bayern smashed domestic records on their way to the double, but were humiliated by Real Madrid in the Champions League semi-final. Perarnau was with them every step of the way. Perarnau is with Guardiola as he is courted by the world's greatest clubs during his sabbatical in New York. We hear Guardiola explain in detail the radical tactical moves which transform Bayern's season and reprogramme the players who will win the World Cup with Germany.Perarnau talks exclusively and in fascinating detail with players such as Arjen Robben, Manuel Neuer, Philipp Lahm, Thiago Alcantara and Bastian Schweinsteiger.

Pep Confidential is much more than the story of a season - it is also a lasting portrait of one of the greatest coaches in sport. 

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• List of Illustrations
• Acknowledgements
• Part One – Time, Patience, Passion
  • 1. Dinner with Kasparov
  • 2. ‘I Need to know Everything about the Club, as Quickly as Possible.’
  • 3. ‘I Could see myself Coaching Here One Day.’
  • 4. ‘They will be at the Vanguard of European Football for the Next Five Years.’
  • 5. ‘I’m Desperate to watch Training – I Want to see what Pep Decides to Change.’
  • 6. ‘Leo, It’s Pep. Can you come over? Now, Please.’
  • 7. ‘Do you see Lahm’s Potential?’
  • 8. ‘Thiago’s Coming.’
  • 9. ‘The Idea is to Dominate the Ball.’
  • 10. ‘We don’t have a Messi or a Ronaldo – But we have the Right Collective Mentality.’
  • 11. ‘Who are our Unstoppable Guys? Ribéry and Robben.’
  • 12. ‘They’ll Climb that Mountain 10 Times in a Row.’
  • 13. ‘I told Rosell I would be Going 6000km away from him.’
  • 14. ‘Borussia Deserved to Win.’
• Part Two – The First Trophy
  • 15. ‘Maybe it was a Mistake.’
  • 16. ‘What do you know about Athleticism?’
  • 17. ‘Javi, Look at Dante, Look at Dante, The Line, The Line!’
  • 18. ‘It’s not Possession that Matters, But the Intention Behind it.’
  • 19. ‘I Don’t have any Midfielders.’
  • 20. We’re Trying to do this Right, Not Just Win Titles.’
  • 21. ‘Bring the Ball Out Well and you will Play Well.’
  • 22. ‘I Loathe all that Passing – That Tiquitaca.’
  • 23. ‘Lahm … The Guy is Fucking Exceptional!’
  • 24. ‘Pam! Pam! That’s our Style of Play!’
  • 25. ‘Bayern were like Something Out of a Movie Today.’
  • 26. ‘Lads, I don’t know how to take Penalties. I’ve Never Taken One in my Life. But here’s the Best Penalty Taker in the World.’
• Part Three – 2013: A Prodigious Year
  • 27. ‘Right Now I’m not the best in the world.’
  • 28. ‘Hoeness is the Heart and soul of this Club – He’s Vital to me.’
  • 29. ‘We are all Hiding Behind the Coach.’
  • 30. ‘Gentlemen, this is Tiquitaca and it is Shit.’
  • 31. The Treasure Map
  • 32. ‘Lahm? he’s as Football-Intelligent as Iniesta.’
  • 33. ‘For 80 Minutes we Played Perfect Football – The Best Football I’ve seen in my Life.’
  • 34. ‘If anyone would Prefer me not to make the Decisions, No Problem. You Decide who’s Going to Play.’
  • 35. ‘I’m not Saying my Way is Better. It’s Just my Way.’
  • 36. ‘Diego! I Love You!’
  • 37. ‘Put the Good Players in the Midfield. That’s my Idea and I’m Going to Stick with it.’
  • 38. ‘The Whole Club has told me that Franck wants to Talk to me. I want to Talk to him, too.’
  • 39. ‘Excellence is Like a Bubble. You can Look for it, But it only Appears from Time to Time.’
  • 40. ‘Mistakes Come when you Relax.’
  • 41. ‘Here we are Again. Another Final.’
• Part Four – The League in March
  • 42. ‘In Six Months here Pep has Tried more things than in Four Years at Barça.’
  • 43. ‘I’m Going to have to make some Radical Changes.’
  • 44. ‘I Look at the Footage of our Opponents and then Try to Work out how to Demolish them.’
  • 45. ‘Perfect Football is Damn Difficult to Achieve.’
  • 46. ‘He’s so Intense that he’ll Exhaust us.’
  • 47. ‘They like the Idea of Telling their Friends: I Play for Pep Guardiola.’
  • 48. ‘Just as well we had Manu. Without that Hand I don’T know where we’d be.’
  • 49. ‘Lahm Brings this Team to Life.’
  • 50. ‘I’ve gone for Control. Control and more Control.’
  • 51. ‘Uli is our Heart. It’s Hard to Imagine Bayern without him.’
  • 52. ‘Picking a Line-Up is Like Sitting in Front of your Chess Pieces.’
  • 53. ‘I Love You Pep. You are in my Heart, Man.’
• Part Five – Falling Down and Getting Back up Again
  • 54. ‘It Hurts – It makes you Feel like your Skin is Burning.’
  • 55. ‘Always Pick the Good Ones. Always.’
  • 56. ‘The Essence of Football is Working out the Best way to attack your Opponents.’
  • 57. ‘I’ve Never Played like this … Not Even in my Boldest Days at Barça.’
  • 58. ‘Arjen’s a Beast.’
  • 59. ‘I don’t Consider Myself a Good Coach.’
  • 60. ‘We have to Remember that if we don’t Run, we’re Nothing.’
  • 61. ‘A Complete Fuck-Up.’
  • 62. I Saw Pep Utterly Beaten for the First Time.’
  • 63. Mea Culpa
  • 64. ‘All Teams go through Different Phases’
  • 65. ‘Javi and Robben, in Defence and Attack’
  • 66. Bloom in the Glow of Happiness
  • 67. The Kid and the Captain
• Epilogue – A Last Word from Pep
• Plate Section