There are records that weigh like boulders, and engagements that shine like gold nuggets, but they imply considerable responsibility. Take Pep Guardiola, genius of the bench, hero of the most sophisticated football modules and, it goes without saying, one of the highest paid coaches in the world: 22.4 million euros gross per year to lead Manchester City. A figure that is not just a check, but also a contract with glory, an implicit promise of continuous victories and impeccable performances.
But the last night of the Champions League showed the other side of the coin, going around the world. After a seemingly impregnable 3-0 lead, Manchester City managed the feat – because it is a feat – of being overtaken by Feyenoord, taking home a disappointing 3-3. Yet, the spotlight did not stop on the result. The surprise, the real one, came at the press conference, when Guardiola showed up with scratches on his head and marks on his face. An image that catalyzed all attention.
“I made them with my fingers. I want to hurt myself,” said the Spaniard with a disarming smile. And in that smile there was all the ambiguity of an unfortunate joke, thrown with the recklessness of someone who lives under the pressure of an astronomical salary and superhuman expectations.
A few hours later, perhaps aware of the media short-circuit unleashed, Guardiola wanted to clarify. “I was caught off guard by a question about the scratch on my face,” he wrote on social media, explaining that it was an accident caused by a sharp nail. Then, the step back: “My response was not intended to minimize the serious issue of self-harm.” And again, a heartfelt appeal: “I know that many people struggle with mental health problems every day. I would like to take this moment to encourage them to seek help.”
A necessary clarification, but one that did not put an end to the controversy. Sports champions, like it or not, are role models. And a gesture, an expression, even a scratch, can be transformed into messages. No defeat – not even the most bitter – is worth a self-inflicted scratch. Sport, by definition, is a school of resilience, not self-harm.
But the point is another, perhaps more disturbing. Those scratches, that joke, could be the symptom of a culture that has lost the meaning of sport. A culture that lives and feeds on unsustainable pressure, where every draw is experienced as a failure and every defeat as an unbearable disgrace.
If today a coach like Guardiola allows himself to make such ambiguous statements, doing violence to himself, displaying in public that sort of stigma of competitive narcissism, what can we expect from young footballers who grew up in a system that forgives nothing? The real responsibility, after all, lies not only with Guardiola and his 22 million gross, but with a successful model that does not allow for a margin of error.
And if tomorrow some young talent decided to scratch himself for a missed penalty or a goal conceded from a corner, who would really be to blame? Perhaps, that billionaire circuit that always and only asks for victory. And certainly a great champion, a little less of a man in this case, named Pep Guardiola.
