TOYesterday Pep Guardiola made even more history in football. After his victory on penalties against Sevilla, the Sant Pedor coach has become the coach with the second most titles ever. He has won 36 titles in 14 active years (he was on a sabbatical), so the average number of titles is 2.5 championships per campaign. Something simply spectacular. As if that were not enough, Pep reached another milestone never seen before, by becoming the first coach in history to win the European Super Cup with three different teams.
On the horizon there is only Sir Alex FergusonManchester United legend, and who won 2 Champions League finals with Barça. The Scotsman accumulated 49 titles in a 39-year career. strong> But his legacy should not only be seen in the titles.
Coaches with the most titles in football history
- Alex Ferguson: 49 titles
- Pep Guardiola: 36 titles
- Lucescu: 35 titles
- Valeri Lobanovsky: 30 titles
- Ottmar Hitzfeld: 28 titles
- Luis Felipe Scolari: 26 titles
- Jock Stein: 26 titles
- Jose Mourinho: 25 titles
- Carlo Ancelotti: 25 titles
- Giovanni Trapattoni: 23 titles
Player position changes
During his career on the bench, there are many footballers to whom Guardiola has changed positions, and for the better. He The most famous case is that of Messi and the ‘false 9’. One afternoon on May 1, 2009 changed the history of the Argentine star, of Barça, and also of world football forever. A phone call from Pep to Leo to exchange impressions on the Argentine playing as a center forward, but going down to the midfield line to receive and drag the center-backs made the greatest work of the ‘Pep Team’ in Barcelona culminate. The result: 2-6 to a Madrid on May 2 that dynamited Pep’s first league. “It cannot be said that the ‘false 9’ position was created by me. It is the result of a certain style of play,” said Messi.
It cannot be said that the ‘false 9’ position was created by me. It is the result of a certain style of play
The other case similar to that of Messi, but which was not as important, was Lahm’s conversion, from winger to midfielder. “With Guardiola I discovered a new position and another way of understanding the game,” said the former Bayern Munich captain in a recent interview with MARCA. The Sant Pedor coach arrived in Germany in 2013 to a Munich team that had won the entire previous season. In the Teutonic country, Guardiola innovated and left his mark. “The most important thing that Guardiola brought is the positional game and the clear distribution of roles on the field”Lahm commented.
With Guardiola I discovered a new position and another way of understanding the game
The innovative 3-2-4-1 with Manchester City
During a good part of the past campaign, Pep Guardiola tried a system that is unusual in current football. He played with 4 players who can perform as center backs (Walker, Ruben Días, Akanji and Stones), raising the latter to double pivot with Rodri. Ahead of them, a line of four players with Bernardo Silva, Gundogan, De Bruyne and Grealish, to supply their goal man, Erling Haaland, with balls.
His objective: accumulate up to four men of good footing inside (Rodri, Stones, De Bruyne and Gundogan), with the three defenders also close to the ball and that Bernardo Silva and Grealish be the ones who give the team amplitude on the flanks and can play 1-1 on the wing. Thanks to this tactical change, the coach has been able to get the best out of Grealish after a hesitant first year for English, the most expensive signing in ‘Cityzen’ history.
Give up possession to win
Pep Guardiola has seen a clear evolution in terms of this aspect of the game. Although in his beginnings at FC Barcelona he barely lost possession thanks to having Xavi, Iniesta and Busquets in the midfieldover the years it has been adapting to the type of players it has. The clearest proof of this is the quarterfinal tie of the last Champions League against Bayern Munich. In the playoff set Manchester City had 43% of possession, while Bayern had the remaining 57%. However, Pep’s men managed to win the tie by an overwhelming 4-1.
Manchester City penalized (and a lot) Bayern’s errors in getting out of the ball, mainly from Upamecano, and the air power of players like Stones and Haaland to sentence a Bavarian team unable to stand up. The offensive transition and the high game were not at all Guardiola’s hallmarks at the ‘short’ FC Barcelona, but at City he has adapted to his players, something a coach should always do.
Empower youth players
During his 14 years on the benches of the European elite, many have been the homegrown players who have made the step to the first team. How can we forget the case of Sergio Busquets in Barça’s sextet, although the ‘Octopus of Badía’ was a substitute in that team behind Yaya Touré, Little by little, the Spaniard established himself as a starter until he reached the Champions League final in 2009 at just 21 years of age.. Sergio surrendered in a recent interview to DAZN before the coach who gave him the alternative in the elite: “Pep was ahead of the time at a tactical, technical, nutritional level,… Not a single detail escapes him” .
Guardiola with Sergio Busquets, during his stage at FC Barcelona
Pep was ahead of the time at a tactical, technical, nutritional level,… Not a single detail escapes him
At Bayern Munich he also gave Pierre-Emile Höjbjerg a lot of confidence, currently at Tottenham, whom he saw as the future Busquets for his Bayern. However, the arrival of Kimmich deprived him of more minutes and he ended up leaving much to the chagrin of Guardiola. On the other hand, in Manchester Foden has established himself as an important player thanks to Pep.
Cole Palmer, his latest discovery
The young English player has already made himself known to the general public in the final of the European Super Cup in Athens against Sevilla with a headed goal when the Seville team was better. Before, in addition, he was already decisive after scoring the goal that put the ‘Cityzens’ ahead in the Community Shield against Arteta’s Arsenal. Cole Palmer is yet another success of the trust that Guardiola places in young people. City have lost Mahrez, but they haven’t brought in a replacement at the moment. Guardiola trusts Palmer, and it shows in the 21-year-old, who shows off his age-appropriate cheekiness in every game he plays.
The world of football surrendered at his feet
The planet has surrendered to what Guardiola did with Manchester City last night, who managed to pass the bad drink of Sevilla’s dominance and took advantage of the opportunity after Rodri’s cross and Palmer’s goal. “It dignifies even more how he has won those titles, where he has won them and the different football cultures”highlighted Mateu Lahoz at the end of the game in Movistar. “He has always shown that he is the best”said a Zinedine Zidane to whom Guardiola opened the doors of Sabener Strasse, Bayern’s sports city, while the Frenchman took out his coach’s card.
He has always shown that he is the best
The Premier coaches also surrender to Guardiola. “I think that Pep Guardiola’s football is unattainable because he has shown that football in the United Kingdom, Germany and Spain”, said Roberto de Zerbi, Brighton coach. Pochettino and Klopp, managers of Chelsea and Liverpool, respectively, agree that Pep is “the best manager in the world.” And it is that Guardiola, like Rinus Michels or Sacchi, has innovated football and has left (and is leaving) an incomparable legacy in the history of football.
