Few people can explain the modern history of Barça with as much authority as Carles Rexach. He has lived it practically from every angle. He was a youth academy player, a first-team footballer for 17 seasons, a teammate of Johan Cruyff, a coach, an important figure in the construction of the Dream Team, and the man who played a decisive role in the arrival of Leo Messi. More than six decades around Barça, from Cruyff to Messi, are enough for many lives. And also, for a documentary.
A right winger of enormous technical quality, dribbling, game vision, and a great shot, Rexach played with a naturalness not always understood. His calmness was sometimes mistaken for indolence. That could be one of the keys to the title of the documentary, Running is for Cowards, produced by Movistar Plus and Mundo Deportivo, which premiered yesterday and will be exclusively available on Movistar Plus from September 21.
“It was a laborious process, but at my age, I will watch the documentary with my children and grandchildren,” said the Barça legend
The title responds to a famous phrase by Rexach and fits his particular way of understanding football: he preferred to think rather than run for the sake of running. He stayed at Barça between 1965 and 1981 and won, among other titles, the 1973-74 League and the 1979 European Cup Winners’ Cup.
His story cannot be understood without Johan Cruyff either. First, they shared the locker room; later, they met on the bench. Rexach was one of the Dutchman’s trusted men in building the Dream Team that won four consecutive leagues and lifted the club’s first European Cup at Wembley in 1992. He also served as head coach at different times and in 2001 took over the team that qualified for the Champions League thanks to Rivaldo’s unforgettable bicycle kick goal against Valencia. The following year, Rexach, the Noi de Pedralbes, led the team to the semifinals.
However, among all the decisions he made from the offices, there is one that ended up changing Barça’s history forever. Rexach played a decisive role in the arrival of Leo Messi when that Argentine boy was looking for an opportunity.
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Rexach admitted that he never felt completely comfortable in front of the cameras. “Cinema is not my thing. Explaining things about your life is not the same as football,” he admitted. In fact, he was initially reluctant to participate in the documentary. “Maybe some people don’t like to talk about their football life, but I was convinced.” In the end, the possibility of leaving that memory to his loved ones also weighed in. “At my age, my children and grandchildren will watch it.” A long process, over a year, which he summed up with his usual sense of humor. “It was a laborious process.” And the premiere also gave him an unexpected reward: “Many friends gave me a very pleasant surprise.”
Running is for Cowards recovers that journey through those who shared it with him, such as former footballers Julio Salinas, José Mari Bakero, Guillermo Amor, and Albert Ferrer; agent Josep Maria Minguella; Joan Laporta, president of FC Barcelona; and Leo Messi, a club legend. All of them reconstruct a life that has advanced almost in parallel with Barça’s for more than six decades.
At the premiere, Rexach was accompanied by former players, legends, and personalities linked to Barça such as Joan Gaspart, Gerard López, Eusebio Sacristán, and Jordi Roura; artists like Joan Manuel Serrat, Lucrecia, Darko Peric, and Octavi Pujades, among others. Also Santi Nolla, director of Mundo Deportivo.
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