Manchester City-Lyon: how Pep Guardiola became a machine to win titles

It is Manel Estiarte, ex-water polo champion, who has become his best friend and confidant, who explains it in the best seller “Herr Pep” (“Mr. Pep”, in German). “I call it the 32-minute rule. Pep can't think more than thirty-two minutes without football. If you are at the restaurant, her gaze is lost. He is there without being there. He is already thinking about how he will have to block the opposing left side in the next game, how his midfielders will have to cover. He never disconnects. "

From football to getting sick

Guardiola all spitting. At 49, this Catalan has already known several lives. Player and captain of Barça, left to discover Italy (Brescia, AS Roma) to finish in Mexico (Dorados de Sinaloa), then successful coach of FC Barcelona, ​​Bayern Munich and now Manchester City, he lives his job as a passion. To the point of making himself sick. It is this kind of alchemist, gesturing on the edge of the sidelines, ordering stars to attention like Ryan Sterling or Kevin De Bruyne, that Lyon will face this Saturday night in Lisbon.

A man who has revolutionized his sport for nearly ten years and who has since become an “untouchable”. "I knew Pep would be the perfect man when I gave him the keys to the truck in 2008," explains Joan Laporta, the former president of Barça. He knew the club by heart, especially its unique context. Even at 37, he was ready to take over the first team. The facts have proven me right. "

The possession of Cruyff, the pressing of Sacchi and the intensity of Bielsa

And how! In four years at Barça, Guardiola has won fourteen out of nineteen possible titles, including three Spanish league titles, two Champions League and two Club World Championships. Party for Bayern Munich after a sabbatical in New York, Guardiola, who lost his mother last April, then carried out the same damage in the German championship, bringing Bayern three times in a row to the semi-finals of the C1. Before winning the Premier League title twice with Manchester City.

A fantastic success that Gerard Lopez, former partner of Guardiola at Barça, had already predicted. “Player, Pep didn't score a lot, but he was the one who organized the whole team. He was anticipating everything that was going to happen. He loved to listen to his coaches and learn. "

"Guardiola is a thief of ideas as he defines himself," explains Thibaud Leplat, author of the book "Guardiola, the praise of a style". He has influences like Cruyff, Sacchi, Bielsa and takes the best of each. The possession of Cruyff, the pressing of Sacchi, the intensity of Bielsa… He knows all the history of football, the forgotten tactics and has brought them together in a magnificent synthesis. "

Messi considers him a "master"

And this, he owes it to his greatest mentor, Juanma Lillo, his coach at the Dorados, and who this year became his assistant at Manchester City. Lillo, that's the method. Guardiola, passion. By removing his crampons in 2006, he was already ready to respond to Barça's call. After a year of learning in team B (which he will raise from the 4th to the 3rd division), Guardiola was officially presented as the new coach of Barça in June 2008 with a mission: to restore the Blaugrana blazon, stained by the collapse from the Ronaldinho generation.

Messi has a lot of admiration for Pep Guardiola, with whom he won two Champions Leagues./Icon Sport  

Articulated around players trained at the club such as Xavi, Iniesta, Puyol and especially Lionel Messi, who became the best player in the world under his orders, the team is then the most admired and the most domineering on the planet. Generally stingy in words, Messi considers him a "master". “Guardiola is not naturally affectionate, he is anti-Klopp (the Liverpool coach), continues Thibaud Leplat. He loves those who follow him and makes no effort for others. We saw it with Ibrahimovic at Barça. He lets his management settle conflicts. He is anything but a diplomat. "

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Many in Spain also hate him for his connections with the Catalan independence movement, of which he is the unofficial spokesperson. We also evoke his entourage, sometimes troubled. But his players only have eyes for him. And to get to the semi-final of the Final 8 in Lisbon at the expense of OL, that's already enough.