Pep' Guardiola has transformed
Barcelona into arguably the greatest club side of all time. He was born on 18
January 1971 in the small village of Santpedor, just 45 miles north of
Barcelona, to the bricklayer Valentini and housewife Dolor. He has two older
sisters and a younger brother. His passion for football developed at an early
age and as soon as he began to spend every given hour kicking a ball around the
central village square, the whole village knew him. The village’s sports field
has since been named after him.
It soon became clear that Guardiola
had immensely strong leadership qualities. When playing football for his
village team, he would be the one to pick the teams. He was the class spokesman
at school, but his gift was best defined by his former player Gerard Pique: “He
has a natural, extraordinary authority. He doesn’t have to raise his voice or
bang on the table - the players just trust him.”
He started playing football for
Gimnàstic Manresa, but quickly, at the age of 13, he joined La Masia. Pep rose
through the youth ranks for six years, playing at the right side of the
midfield.
Guardiola joined Barcelona B at the
beginning of the 1990-91 season, the same season he made his debut for the
first team against Cádiz under coach Johan Cruyff. It was the Dutch manager
that turned Pep into one of the best defensive midfielders of his era.
Guardiola's stay with the B team wasn't long, but by the time he became a first
team regular he made 59 appearances scoring five goals.
On 11 April 2001, Barcelona's
captain announced his intention to leave the club after 17 years of service. He
stated that it was a personal decision and, in part, a response to what he
perceived as football heading in a new, more physical, direction. On 24 June
2001, Guardiola played his last match with Barça in the last game of the season
against Celta de Vigo. Guardiola played 479 games in 12 seasons for the first
team, winning 16 trophies. At the press conference after the Celta game, he
said, "It's been a long journey. I'm happy, proud, happy with the way
people treated me and I have made many friends. I cannot ask for more. I have
had many years in the elite. I did not come to make history but to make my own
history." He has been called the hero of a number of Barcelona's current
midfielders, as Xavi Hernández, Andrés Iniesta, and Cesc Fàbregas have all
stated that Guardiola was their role model and hero.
After leaving Barcelona in 2001 at
the age of 30, Guardiola joined Italian Serie A side Brescia, as Andrea Pirlo's
replacement in the deep-lying playmaking role, where he was able to play
alongside Roberto Baggio, under coach Carlo Mazzone. Following his time at
Brescia, Guardiola then transferred to Roma. His time in Italy, however, was
unsuccessful and included a four-month ban after testing positive for
nandrolone. Six years later, on 23 October 2007, Guardiola was cleared on
appeal of all charges that had led to the ban. CONI, however, reopened the case
against the player, because it considered the argumentation of the absolution
unacceptable, but he was cleared once again on 29 September 2009. He played a
number of Coppa Italia games and Champions League games, finishing with 71
games in Italy.
After his career with Brescia and
Roma, in 2003, Guardiola chose to play in Qatar with Al-Ahli from Doha in the
Qatar Stars League, where many fellow greats were playing, such as Gabriel
Batistuta. He had rejected another offer from Manchester United, as he wanted
to play elsewhere. He became a regular in the Qatar Stars League, often cited
as one of the best players in the League. In 2005–06, he turned down offers
from a number European sides, such as Manchester City, Manchester United and
Chelsea, as he felt his playing career was coming to a close. Instead he
signed with Dorados de Sinaloa of the Mexican Primera División. After six
months, 20 games and two goals Pep Guardiola retired.
Guardiola also had an illustrious
international career with La Furia Roja. He was well known in the international
stage even before he made his senior debut, on 14 October 1992 against Northern
Ireland, as he was a regular member of Spain's Under-Age teams. Pep quickly
became the centerpiece that made the national team run like clockwork. He ended
his international career at 47 senior team appearances and 5 goals scored.
After one year away from football,
Pep was offered the coaching job of the recently relegated Barcelona B
team, which he accepted. It was
immediately noticeable he has all the attributes a great manager needs,
including high work rate and winning mentality. His team ended the season in
first place and won the promotion to Segunda División B.
Guardiola took over management of
Barcelona's first team, from Frank Rijkaard, at the beginning of the 2008-09
season. Pep made a mark on the squad as he offloaded several players and
replaced them with players that fit his offensive, tiki-taka, brand of football.
At first things didn't go as planed as his team lost the opening game against the
newly promoted CD Numancia. But Guardiola's Barcelona soon started firing on
all cylinders and at the end of the season he celebrated the famous treble. A
treble that with win three more trophies in the same year became a sextuple, a
feat that no other coach had ever accomplished.
For his successes he is rewarded
with a one-year contract extension, which will keep him at the club until June
2011. Barcelona win a second successive La Liga title and Guardiola's seventh
trophy as manager but lose out in the Champions League to José Mourinho's
Internazionale.
In Barcelona, Guardiola had up to
24 assistants at any one time for different roles. In terms of match analysis,
though, he only trusted his own opinion. That is why he had a 20m² room
(without windows) set up within the Camp Nou stadium into which he would
retreat for several hours on end just a few days before every game to study
DVDs of the upcoming opponents. He would leave this room (almost) every time
aware of the right tactics for that game.
In next season, Guardiola leads
Barça to a fifth straight win in as many El Clásico matches but suffers his first
defeat against Real Madrid in the Copa del Rey final. After securing the La
Liga title once again Barça beat Manchester United 3-1 at Wembley to win yet
another Champions League title. Having added the Uefa Super Cup to his trophy cabinet
following a 2-0 win over Porto, Guardiola is named Fifa world coach of the year
in January 2012. Being Out of the La Liga title race and the Copa del Rey, the
41-year-old announces he will leave the club at the end of the season. Overall
during his spell as FC Barcelona coach, Guardiola won 14 out of a possible 19
titles.
Under Frank Rijkaard, FC Barcelona
were known for a 4–3–3 with plenty of flair with Ronaldinho being the centre
point of the attack. Under Guardiola the team became more disciplined with a
greater focus on possession and a disciplined and aggressive pressing style. He
often played a high defensive line with the full backs (particularly Daniel
Alves) pushing high up down their respective sides while relying on the passing
of Xavi Hernández and Andrés Iniesta to retain possession whilst employing
pressing style without the ball. During Samuel Eto's time at FC Barcelona,
Lionel Messi was deployed on the right hand side, however, since his departure
Messi has largely played in the centre forward role fulfilling a false nine
capacity.
At FC Barcelona, he did not conquer
the footballing world by just taking Frank Rijkaard’s team and throwing them on
the pitch. Pep knew what he wanted to do and how to achieve it. He had to make
changes and he did. Upon being appointed, Guardiola made it known that
superstars such as Deco, Samuel Eto’o and former world player of the year
Ronaldinho, among others, were not part of his plans for the upcoming season.
Eto’o ended up remaining at the club for one more season while Deco and
Ronaldinho left to join Chelsea and AC Milan respectively. Guardiola brought in
players who became key components of his success at FC Barcelona such as Dani
Alves, Seydou Keita and Gerard Pique. He also promoted Sergio Busquets and
Pedro Rodriguez from Barcelona B, who also played key roles in his tenure. This
is a trait of an excellent manager, creating his ideal squad for success and
making no hesitation in making significant changes to a good squad for the good
of the club even if it is at the expense of fan favorites.
Guardiola wrote in a column for El
País in March 2007, when Rijkaard experimented with a three-man backline of his
own: "In Barcelona it is understood that you can win a thousand ways. All
are valid. All work. There's little more to say. But in Barcelona it is also
understood that you can never win and repeat in a way that does not feel right
to you—that does not feel right to the directors, coaches, players, friends of
the press and the people who go every week to see them."
After a sabbatical period, Bayern
Munich announced on 16 January 2013 that Guardiola would join the club as
manager for the 2013–14 season following the retirement of Jupp Heynckes. He claimed that the Bavarians' rich history
and the quality of their current squad were the reasons that lured him. He
added, "I decided to join Bayern because of the players and the club's
history. They're one of the best teams in the world. I am ready to return to
football. This is a new challenge for me. My time at Barcelona was wonderful
but I needed a new challenge. Bayern Munich have given me that
opportunity."In his first season at the club, Guardiola won the
Bundesliga, the DFB-Pokal, the UEFA Super Cup and the FIFA Club World Cup.
The identity that he gives his
teams is another admirable trait that Pep possesses. The brand of football that
he employs is of equal importance to Guardiola’s legacy as his thirteen trophy
haul at FC Barcelona. Guardiola’s FC Barcelona team redefined the “beautiful
game” and he has his current team, Bayern Munich, aiming to play the same style
of football.
According to Bayern legend Lothar
Matthaus, “tiki-taka has already reached Bavaria.” “Tiki-taka” is a strategy
where numerous short passes are completed by the team, causing the team
utilizing the strategy to dominate ball possession. There is a large amount of
ground covered when using “tiki-taka”. It played a huge part in FC Barcelona’s
success under Guardiola and in playing his way; And now his Bayern team is in a
stronger position than they were at this point last season.
In terms of his man-management
abilities, Guardiola is adept at getting the best out of his players. Managing
a team of world class footballers is not an easy task. Just look at how Frank
Rijkaard struggled to get the best out of a team that included stars such as
Deco, Ronaldinho and Eto’o. Before FC Barcelona appointed Pep Guardiola, they
looked to be simply a group of excellent individuals, rather than a great team.
Guardiola’s man-management abilities enabled him to have a tactically organized
unit, a great one at that. He stifled all egos for the good of the team, and
that team succeeded. It is the same story at Bayern. No player believes that
they are bigger than the team, and they are doing well.
At 42 years old, Pep Guardiola is
young compared to other managers. It may just be too early for him to be
classified as a truly legendary manager, but if he continues in this fashion he
may very well be looked on as one of the greats, sooner or later.
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