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Pep Guardiola trophies and records with Man City, Bayern, Barcelona...
How many trophies and what records have been set by Josep Pep Guardiola during his coaching career in La Liga, the Bundesliga and the English Premier League?
The Manchester City coach, Josep Guardiola, a Champions League winner with Barcelona in 2009 and 2011, could become the sixth coach to win the European Cup with two different clubs, after Ernst Happel (Feyenoord 1970, Hamburg 1983), Ottmar Hitzfeld (Borussia Dortmund 1997, Bayern München 2001), José Mourinho (Porto 2004, Internazionale 2010), Jupp Heynckes (Real Madrid 1998, Bayern 2013) and Carlo Ancelotti (AC Milan 2003, 2007, Real Madrid 2014).
But what else has won the Catalan coach, born in the village Santpedor 50 years ago.
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The years with Barcelona
After spending 2007-2008 at Barcelona B, Pep Guardiola stepped into the first team head coach post. He introduced a new system, favoring hard work ethics and a more personal approach during training and a closer relationship with his players. Although he offloaded the majority of the championship-winning players from 2005-2006 season, he immediately came to the magic triple trophy season, the treble, winning La Liga, the Spanish Cup, and as icing on the cake, the Champions League with the win against Manchester United 2-0 in the final. Becoming the first Spanish club in history to do the treble feat. The calendar year 2009 Barcelona ended with a record six trophies, the Spanish League, Copa del Rey, Champions League, Spanish Super Cup, European Super Cup, and Club World Cup.
In the next three seasons at the club, Guardiola managed to win one more Champions League (2011), two La Liga, and two Spanish Cup trophies.
The Bavarian adventure
After spending one year on sabbatical, Guardiola came to the European powerhouse Bayern Munich. Many questions were raised, how will the Catalan coach adapt to the famous Bavarian football mentality. Three Bundesliga titles in three seasons, along with three Champions League semi-finals, was the best possible answer to the ones who doubted Guardiola's coaching diversity.
He finished his three seasons at Bayern Munich with a record of 82 wins, 11 draws, and nine losses in the Bundesliga; a record of 14 wins, three draws, and no losses in the DFB-Pokal; and a record of 23 wins, five draws, and eight losses in the UEFA Champions League.
(Graphic courtesy of SofaScore.com)
The Premier League challenge
On the 1 February 2016, Manchester City announced that Pep Guardiola would replace Manuel Pellegrini at the end of the season, and that he has committed to a three-year contract.
In his first season of the England Premiership, Manchester City finished third in the championship, and they were eliminated in the FA Cup semi-final. In the Champions League, Manchester City was stopped in round 16 of the competition. It was the first time since the start of his coaching career that Pep Guardiola's team has fallen early at this stage. The necessary adaptation to England Premier League style of play and adjusting his recognizable style with fast conversions from defense to attack brought him and Manchester City three titles in the last four years. Nevertheless, Guardiola's team only with under-par performances in the Champions League, finishing their last three campaigns in the quarterfinals.
However, after dominating the league season 2020/2021 and brilliant performances in both legs of the Champions League semi-final against PSG (4-1 in aggregate), Pep Guardiola wrote another page in the history book. As the first Manchester City manager, he will lead his team in the final of the premier-tier European club football competition. City will be the 42nd club to reach the European Cup final, and the third newcomers in successive seasons after Tottenham in 2019 and Paris Saint-Germain in 2020.
Suppose Josep Pep Guardiola triumphs against Chelsea on Saturday. In that case, he will equal the record of Mircea Lucescu, current Dynamo Kyiv manager, with 32 title trophies, second on the all-time list behind Sir Alex Ferguson, who still seats high on the list with the incredible number of 48 career trophies.