Barca Buzz: Dressing Room Secrets

Catalan paper Sport has recently featured secrets from inside Barca's dressing room, where Pep continually strives to instill team unity between the players and blend all their personalities and egos into harmony.

From the more withdrawn players like Abidal and Keita to pranksters Pique and Dani Alves, the players get along great and there's always a friendly atmosphere in the locker room. The players coming from similar backgrounds tend to stick together, as the team divides into three tables every day at lunch: the Catalans, the South Americans, and the French speaking. Those who don't exactly fit into any of the three categories can still find one where they're comfortable, as Zlatan Ibrahimovic for example sits with the South Americans, always with his best buddy on the team, the Brazilian Maxwell.
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Pep himself has got an office in each of Camp Nou and the Ciutat Esportiva, but the one at the Camp Nou is virtually untouched since Rijkaard had it, as Pep spends the larger majority of his time in the one at the Ciutat. Both offices have a similar location in their respective complex, set far from the players' lockers.

The map above shows the dressing room at Camp Nou and the order of the lockers - Pique and Dani were set apart to keep them from too much mischief, with Pique purposely placed in between Iniesta and Xavi so the two could keep an eye on him. We would not want to be in their place.

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The players have completely different locker position on the Ciutat Esportiva training ground, where Puyol shows up an hour before everyone else every morning and opens up the dressing room. On the other hand, Pique is always the one rushing in at the last minute while pulling on his boots.

Thierry Henry and Rafa Marquez are the dandies of the group, known to spend hours before the mirror and always the last ones to leave the Ciutat, as they like to stick around for a post-training leg massage.
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As for Barca's dressing room music, Pep has decided that last season's theme song, Coldplay's Viva La Vida, has run its course and it's time for a new tune. The team are no longer playing Viva La Vida, it having been replaced by a myriad of different songs as they search for the right one to become this season's background track. Dani Alves is trying to convince everyone it should be his Brazilian music, but no one seems to be listening to him; looks like we'll just have to wait and see what Pep and the boys come up with.