‘100x100 Tito’ documentary on the 100-point league and the farewell to Tito Vilanova available on Barça TV+ from 15 January

From 15 January ‘100x100 Tito’ will be available around the world on Barça TV+, a documentary produced by Barça Studios that honours the memory of Tito Vilanova at Barça and the difficult 2012/13 season in which the team had to compete while their coach was battling against cancer. These were testing times for the squad, an unprecedented moral blow in elite sport, which led to the kind of bonding and determination among the team that has rarely been seen before. 

The documentary was made with the aim of paying homage to Vilanova and features appearances from his family, who, for the first time since his death, are opening up to speak about what happened. The story looks back at Vilanova’s time at Barça, his appointment as head coach and the courage shown by players and staff during a season when their manager was forced to step down from his position midway through the campaign, but when FC Barcelona went on to win la Liga with the historic tally of 100 points.  

Wide range of players 

The 70-minute documentary includes a wide range of eyewitness accounts, making it an accurate, and also very moving, story. A number of players who featured in that season have words to say: Messi, Piqué, Busquets, Xavi, Jordi Alba, Puyol, Iniesta, Pedro, Abidal and Cesc Fàbregas, as well as members of the coaching staff and executive structure of the club, such as Andoni Zubizarreta and also Jordi Roura and Aureli Altimira, the anonymous heroes of the story who kept the ship afloat while their captain and friend was fighting for his life. Institutional figures like Josep Maria Bartomeu and Sandro Rosell also appear, as does Tito’s widow, Montse, his children Adrià and Carlota and his father Quimet. 

The piece is full of exciting, unforgettable moments, and some very touching quotes. “All the values ​​that Barça transmits, Tito reflected in everything he did”, says Messi, who describes his last ever conversation with the coach who he also played under at U16 level, together with Cesc and Piqué. The Argentine star also reveals that it was Vilanova who convinced him to stay at Barça. 

Jordi Roura, a close friend of Tito’s since they met at La Masia together with Altimira, Guardiola, Amor and other illustrious names, comments that Vilanova “made it possible for a Barça coach to be somebody who behaved in an absolutely normal manner. That might seem obvious, but it is anything but obvious and by no means common.”

Award-winning work with unpublished material 

The documentary was filmed on location in L’Escala and Bellcaire d’Empordà (Girona), where Vilanova’s parents currently live; in New York, where Tito underwent surgery and treatment; in Andorra, where his son Adrià currently plays; in Qatar to interview Xavi Hernández; and even inside the ward at Hospital Quirón in Barcelona where Tito spent his last days accompanied by his nearest and dearest. 

The documentary also features never-before-seen audiovisual material from the family’s private archive. The footage includes, for example, one of the last team-talks that Vilanova recorded for the team from his New York apartment while undergoing medical treatment. Sitting on a sofa, Vilanova speaks to his staff on his mobile phone. Such intimate moments show just what a brave fighter Tito was, and how he was eternally committed to his footballing duties and how he had such great esteem for his teammates and Barça. 

‘100x100 Tito’ was directed by Cristina Collado and Marta Busquets, with Paco Latorre and Helena Vila as executive producers. It was recently awarded first prize in the Sports category at the Zoom Festival in Igualada, one of the most prestigious audiovisual contests in our country.