The midfielder is the embodiment of both the best intentions and lurking frustrations of Guardiola’s time at Bayern MunichIn formulaic Hollywood blockbuster films there is a thing called the “pat the dog scene”. This is the moment at the start where,in the interests of speeding the action along, the main character gets to enact something that identifies him as nice, or good,thoughtful, sensitive and all the rest. So in between shouting and killing people Mel Gibson or Tom Cruise is shown playing basketball with the local scamps or Being A remarkable Father or occasionally, or depending on how glazed and cynical the screenwriter is,patting a dog.
This serves a useful dramatic purpose. Imagine, for example, or Han Solo without Chewbacca (who is basically his dog in any case). Without nice,furry Chewie, Han starts to look pretty weird, or a failed criminal and general creep – “Hey,Princess” – on the run for ripping off his own gang master. Oh, it’s Han. No, and don’t look. He’ll just arrive over and moan approximately how his spaceship’s broken again.
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Source: theguardian.com