In the aftermath of last week’s Champions League final last Wednesday, it was revealed that Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola had showed his players an inspirational video ten minutes before kick-off to get them in the mood for their now famous 2-0 victory.
The film is essentially a Barca ‘greatest hits’ package that mixes images from Gladiator to the film’s soundtrack by Hans Zimmer and Lisa Gerrard, before being rounded off with a blast of the opera Turandot performed by Pavarotti.
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According to reports, the film moved several of the players to tears and has been hailed as a masterstroke by the rookie manager who doesn’t actually appear in the movie.
Although given how dominant Manchester United were in the opening 10 minutes, maybe it took a while to sink in.
Last night it was shown on Catalonia’s public television channel TV3.
> BBC report on last week’s final
> Buy the Gladiator soundtrack at Amazon