Pep Guardiola is considered one of the greatest managers of all time and holds the records for the most consecutive league games won in La Liga, the Bundesliga and the Premier League.
65 Facts About Pep Guardiola
2.
Pep Guardiola spent the majority of his career with Barcelona, forming a part of Johan Cruyff's Dream Team that won the club's first European Cup in 1992, and four successive Spanish league titles from 1991 to 1994.
3.
Pep Guardiola captained the team from 1997 until his departure from the club in 2001.
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Pep Guardiola then had stints with Brescia and Roma in Italy, Al-Ahli in Qatar, and Dorados de Sinaloa in Mexico.
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Pep Guardiola was capped 47 times for the Spanish national team and appeared at the 1994 FIFA World Cup, as well as at UEFA Euro 2000.
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In 2011, after leading the club to another La Liga and Champions League double, Pep Guardiola was awarded the Catalan Parliament's Gold Medal, their highest honour.
7.
Pep Guardiola ended his four-year Barcelona stint in 2012 with 14 honours, a club record.
8.
Pep Guardiola won the Bundesliga in each of his three seasons as Bayern manager, including two domestic doubles.
9.
Pep Guardiola left the Bavarians for Manchester City in 2016, and guided them to a Premier League title in his second campaign in charge, breaking numerous domestic records as the team became the first to attain 100 league points.
10.
Pep Guardiola led the club to their maiden UEFA Champions League Final in 2021, where they lost to Chelsea.
11.
Pep Guardiola adjusted immediately, as Cruyff had suspected he would, and when he moved to the first-team in 1990, he became the pivot of the Dream Team.
12.
Pep Guardiola returned to action the following season and Barcelona won La Liga, thanks largely to the performances of Rivaldo and Luis Figo.
13.
On 8 June 1998, Pep Guardiola underwent surgery to try to resolve his lingering calf injury, which had caused him to miss the 1998 FIFA World Cup for Spain.
14.
Pep Guardiola 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.
15.
On 24 June 2001, Pep Guardiola played his last match with Barca in the final game of the season against Celta de Vigo.
16.
Pep Guardiola played 479 games in 12 seasons for the first team, winning 16 trophies.
17.
Six years later, on 23 October 2007, Pep Guardiola was cleared on appeal of all charges related to the ban.
18.
Pep Guardiola had rejected another offer from Manchester United, as he wanted to play elsewhere.
19.
Pep Guardiola became a regular in the Qatar Stars League, where he was often cited as one of the best players in the League.
20.
Pep Guardiola played with Dorados de Sinaloa for six months, but was limited to ten appearances due to injuries before retiring.
21.
Between 1992 and 2001, Pep Guardiola played over 47 times and scored five goals for the senior Spain team.
22.
Pep Guardiola fell out of favour with Javier Clemente, Spain's manager, due to disagreements and missed out on Euro 1996.
23.
Pep Guardiola has played for and advocated on behalf of the Catalonia football team.
24.
Pep Guardiola was a highly creative, hard-working, nimble, and elegant player, with good anticipation, tactical awareness, and an ability to read the game; throughout his career, he was usually deployed as either a central or defensive midfielder in front of his team's back-line, although he was capable of playing in more advanced midfield roles.
25.
Pep Guardiola's role has been likened to that of a metodista, due to his ability to dictate play in midfield as well as assist his team defensively.
26.
Pep Guardiola was capable of being an offensive threat, due to his ability to make attacking runs or strike accurately from distance; he was effective at creating chances or shooting on goal from set-pieces.
27.
Pep Guardiola's playing style, which relied on creativity, technique and ball movement, rather than physicality and pace, inspired several future diminutive Spanish playmaking midfielders, such as Xavi, Andres Iniesta, and Cesc Fabregas, with the latter describing him as his "idol".
28.
Miguel Val of Marca considered Pep Guardiola to be one of the greatest Spanish players of all time, describing him as the "brains of Barcelona's Dream Team under Johan Cruyff" in 2020.
29.
Pep Guardiola was appointed coach of Barcelona B on 21 June 2007 with Tito Vilanova as his assistant.
30.
The fate of Eto'o took much of the summer to unravel, with the Cameroonian linked with several clubs, but Pep Guardiola finally declared that he would stay after his dedication in training and participation in the pre-season.
31.
In interviews with the press, Pep Guardiola stressed a harder work ethic than before, but a more personal approach during training and a closer relationship with his players.
32.
Pep Guardiola finished the calendar year 2009 with a record six trophies, the Spanish League, Copa del Rey, Champions League, Spanish Super Cup, European Super Cup and Club World Cup, becoming the first manager in history to do so.
33.
In January 2010, Pep Guardiola became Barcelona's longest serving Spanish coach, overtaking the record previously held by Josep Samitier.
34.
In February 2010, Pep Guardiola coached his 100th match for Barcelona's first team.
35.
Pep Guardiola's record stood at 71 wins, 19 draws and 10 losses with 242 goals for and 76 against.
36.
On 14 July 2010, Pep Guardiola signed a new contract to stay with Barcelona until June 2011.
37.
On 8 February 2011, Pep Guardiola accepted the club's offer for a one-year deal extension, signing a contract until June 2012.
38.
Pep Guardiola suffered his first final defeat during the Copa del Rey final against Real Madrid.
39.
Pep Guardiola's record stood at 144 wins, 39 draws and 17 losses with 500 goals for and 143 against.
40.
Pep Guardiola had faced criticism over his recent tactics and squad selections.
41.
Pep Guardiola had been on a rolling contract that was renewed annually during his tenure as manager.
42.
Pep Guardiola addressed his first press conference as Bayern manager, on 24 June 2013, in German, and had his first training session two days later.
43.
In December 2013, Pep Guardiola won his third Club World Cup after beating Raja Casablanca in Morocco.
44.
Pep Guardiola broke Karl-Heinz Feldkamp's record for the longest winning streak to start his tenure at a Bundesliga club.
45.
Pep Guardiola was undefeated in his first seven matches in the stadium.
46.
Pep Guardiola handed 17-year-old Gianluca Gaudino his first team debut in the Super Cup and made him part of the first team permanently because of "strong preparation" during pre-season.
47.
Pep Guardiola finished 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; a record of 23 wins, five draws, and eight losses in the UEFA Champions League.
48.
Pep Guardiola went a combined two wins, two draws, and two losses in the FIFA Club World Cup, UEFA Super Cup, and the German Super Cup.
49.
Pep Guardiola brought in several significant signings in the summer, including midfielders Ilkay Gundogan from Borussia Dortmund and Nolito from Celta Vigo, winger Leroy Sane from Schalke 04, and defender John Stones from Everton.
50.
Pep Guardiola controversially replaced long-serving City starting goalkeeper Joe Hart with Claudio Bravo from his former club Barcelona; after Hart failed to impress Guardiola in pre-season, he was loaned to Torino before the end of the transfer window and would never make another appearance for the club.
51.
City's form declined following the international break; a home draw to Southampton on 23 October 2016 meant Pep Guardiola had equalled his managerial record of going five games without a win.
52.
Pep Guardiola identified the defensive areas which required improvement for City in the summer transfer window in order to challenge for the league title, particularly in the goalkeeper and full-back positions.
53.
On 19 November 2020, Pep Guardiola signed a new two-year contract with Manchester City until summer 2023.
54.
Pep Guardiola justified starting Gundogan in a defensive role citing his past experiences playing there and his ability to find midfield runners between compact defensive lines.
55.
Pep Guardiola often played a high defensive line with the full backs pushing high up their respective sides while relying on the passing of Xavi and Andres Iniesta to retain possession and employing a pressing style without the ball.
56.
Pep Guardiola was quoted by Thierry Henry as "asking for discipline in possession of the ball in the first two-thirds of the pitch, and then giving players the freedom to finish it off in the last third of the pitch" in his time with Barcelona.
57.
Johan Cryuff previously had used this system as a basic tactical approach when Pep Guardiola played for Barcelona.
58.
Pep Guardiola sought help of Marcelo Bielsa to learn from him.
59.
Tactics employed by Pep Guardiola has been likened to Gegenpressing invented by Ralf Rangnick and used to great effect by Jurgen Klopp, which has influenced approaches of managers such as Maurizio Sarri, Thomas Tuchel, Graham Potter, and Luis Enrique; as well as those in other sports such as rugby.
60.
Pep Guardiola admitted that he had to adapt his style to German and English leagues, but his "football education comes from [Catalunya]" which is possession-based, and distinct from Gegenpressing.
61.
Pep Guardiola has two older sisters and a younger brother, Pere, a football agent.
62.
Pep Guardiola met his wife Cristina Serra when he was 18.
63.
Pep Guardiola was one of the 13 sports personalities named in the Pandora Papers published by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists.
64.
Pep Guardiola had an account open in the principality of Andorra until 2012.
65.
Pep Guardiola exploited the tax amnesty that Mariano Rajoy's conservative government had enacted in Spain to regularize his fiscal situation.