'Take the Ball, Pass the Ball' captures Barcelona's Pep Guardiola years

A documentary on the greatest football team of our times escapes banality by reprising the genius of its coach and the unparalleled skills of its players

It takes a lot to deflate Alex Ferguson. And by a lot, I mean a lot. He is, after all, one of the great figures of the modern game, the most successful coach in the history of British football, and a figure revered widely in all of sport. Yet, in the pressroom at London’s Wembley Stadium on May 29, 2011, the seemingly unflappable Scotsman cut a wretched figure. “Well, they really mesmerise you with their passing, and we never really controlled [Lionel] Messi.” A sense of defeatism filled the room. These were a fatalistic set of words you would have