During his eight-year spell at Barcelona, Pedro was part of an all-conquering side that mopped up pretty much every trophy on offer.
The winger claimed five La Liga titles, three Copa del Reys and three Champions League with the Catalans, while on the international front, he won the 2010 World Cup, plus the European Championship two years later.
After being spotted by Barca playing at a youth tournament in Adeje, the Tenerife-born star became a key player for rookie coach Pep Guardiola in the Barcelona B team, soon following his boss into the senior set-up.
Pedro on Guardiola’s influence
Guardiola took the reins of the senior Barca team in 2008 and over the next two years became a key cog in his manager’s system.
“Very methodical – a coach with clear ideas,” Pedro tells FourFourTwo when asked about Guardiola’s early days. “He’d repeatedly emphasise how we had to play out from the back and how to create chances.
“He was a spectacular coach, for everything: his idea of the game, the way he valued the ‘how’ as much as the ‘what’, and the way he expressed himself. He wasn’t just another coach, he was different to the rest. Of course, you also need to be surrounded by the best players who can understand and execute those concepts, but even from a very early stage, it was clear he was going to become one of the best coaches in history.
Pedro also admits that Guardiola’s influence has been key for his career, which is still going at the age of 38 at Lazio.
“In 2007, I was lucky enough for him to decide I should stay instead of going out on loan – I don’t know what would have happened to my career otherwise,” he continues. “That was going to be my last chance to stay at Barcelona and continue growing, and I took advantage of it.
“Pep trusted me and taught me many things, not only on a professional level, but a personal one too. I was just a kid and he instilled in me discipline, character, respect and ambition, which are so important at a young age. Guardiola is like a father to me – he helped shape me as a person.”
While Guardiola would go on to be the most successful manager in the club’s history, he did endure a tough start, with Pedro making his first league start during this time.
“I was very young and aware of all the expectations at Barça, but I felt ready. There was a lot of pressure created by the poor start to the season, but things turned around from the third game on – we started winning and everything went smoothly.
“Many of the players were Spanish, so the adaptation was more organic, and we had a solid core with Victor Valdes, Carles Puyol, Xavi and Andres Iniesta, who’d experienced all the same things as the new players.”
But for Pedro, a breakthrough moment wasn’t too far away.
“It’s something I earned with hard work every day, but if I had to choose one match, it would be the Club World Cup final in 2009 against Estudiantes, which finished the sextuple.
“It also meant that I’d scored in every competition in the same year, which is something nobody had done before. That was the turning point in my career at the elite level.”
