An era of FC Barcelona that is the personification of footballing art. Josep ‘Pep” Guardiola made the ‘tiki-taka’ ball movement possession based game that Johan Cruyff pioneered the staple style of play for many of the best sides in the world.
Taking over from Frank Rijkaard as first team manager in 2008, Pep Guardiola, who at the time was plying his trade as the FC Barcelona B youth manager, came in the first team set-up instantly looking to start a dynasty. He started the regime by selling perennial first XI players Deco and Ronaldinho, who had been a large part of the team’s success over the previous 5 years. This notion led to the team being built around midfield maestro’s Xavi and Andres Iniesta with the main focal point of attack being Lionel Messi.
Guardiola didn’t change the formation of the starting team that he inherited, electing to keep a 4-3-3 going. But, the uncompromising perfection by the gaffer for his style of play led him to immediate success.
By the end of the 2008-09 season Barcelona had won a whole host of trophies. They beat Athletic Bilbao in the Copa Del Rey Final convincingly (4-1), making the club the record holders for most wins of the trophy with 25. Three days later they destroyed rivals Real Madrid 6-2 to ensure they became the league champions and then they went on to beat Manchester United in the UEFA Champions League Final at the Stadio Olympico in Rome at the end of the season. A 2-0 victory in that final with goals from Samuel Eto’o and Lionel Messi gave the side a treble winning season – the first Spanish side ever to do so. The team then went on to claim the 2009 Supercopa de Espana, the 2009 UEFA Super Cup and the 2009 Club World Club. The 6 trophies claimed by Barcelona in the 2008-09 season made them the first side ever to do so. Guardiola had come in and within his first season he had imprinted himself on the world of football.
In 2010, Barcelona couldn’t replicate their previous season’s effort, but did retain the league title with 99 points on the table and won the Supercopa again. In the June of 2010, the club elected a new president in Sandro Rosell who was a big fan of backing Guardiola’s instincts and cleared the signings of David Villa from Valencia for €40milion and Javier Mascherano from Liverpool for €19million. Both these deals were very good pieces of business as both players went on to have extremely successful stints in Cataluña. Pep had constructed a side that had a compact backline, a technical midfield and a sublime front 3, with squad depth and cover for all positions. However, despite this, one of his greatest exploits was his ability to coach the usage of wing-backs, especially with Dani Alves, who Barca acquired from Sevilla in 2008 at the start of Guardiola’s reign. The wing-backs' overlapping capabilities overwhelmed oppositions as the formation essentially became 5 up front with threats from every angle.
With the team dominating at club level, it was the world stage that made the Guardiola side seem even more special. At the 2010 FIFA World Cup the Spanish national side had 7 Barcelona academy players in the final in South Africa, 6 of which started, with Iniesta scoring the winning goal. The spine of the national side was Barcelona through and through with Gerard Pique and Carlos Puyol at centre back, Sergio Busquets patrolling in front of the back four, Xavi and Iniesta pulling the strings in the midfield and Pedro supporting the striker David Villa who Barcelona were on the cusp of signing after the tournament (which they did, as previously mentioned). With the magnitude of contribution by Barcelona to the national team’s success, history has looked back at the World Cup and European Championships and stated that Barcelona are the holders of those titles, not Spain. A statement like this is kind of true as the style of play and chemistry was Blaugrana to its core, they were just wearing a different coloured jersey on the night.
Back at club level in 2010 Barcelona again defeated Real Madrid in the El Clasico in embarrassing fashion, with a 5-0 triumph. At the end of the year at the Balon d’Or trophy ceremony Barcelona was again ruling, with them having taken out the top 3 spots on the podium. All three players were anchors in the side and all three were La Masia products. Messi took the top gong with Iniesta and Xavi in 2nd and 3rd – the only time in history of the trophy for a single side to achieve this feat. The three were also the players that Guardiola had put all his effort in building the side around initially in 2008, justifying the aforementioned controversial sales of Deco and Ronaldinho.
At the end of the 2010-11 season Barcelona again retained the league title to make it 3 in a row with another 95+ points season. Despite losing the Copa Del Rey final that season they went on to claim a 4th Champions League, again by defeating Manchester United – this time a 3-1 win at Wembley Stadium with Pedro, Messi and Villa on the score sheet.
In the 2011 transfer window, Guardiola brought back La Masia graduate Cesc Fabregas in a ploy for him to become the incumbent midfield replacement for Xavi.
After another string of trophies that included the Spanish Supercup and UEFA Supercup, Guardiola had lead the side to 12 trophies from a possible 15 since taking over as coach 3 years prior. This had already made him the all-time most successful coach of the club in terms of trophy attainment.
After winning another Club World Cup, Guardiola announced that the end of the 2011-12 season would see his tenure at the helm of Barcelona come to an end, with him stepping down as manager, effective on the 30th June 2012. The side sent him off with a bang, by winning yet another trophy for him, downing Athletic Bilbao 3-0 in the Copa Del Rey Final, bringing Guardiola up to 14 titles in 4 seasons.
A four year stretch at a club is relatively short for modern managers who are experiencing loads of success, but in the small period of time Guardiola took a good team and made them a spectacular team. The tweaking of a style of play that had been used prior to his tenure to make it unplayable to all oppositions was a pure masterclass in coaching. The solidarity and desire to get the most out of every player was exceptional. Guardiola empowered each player he had in his squad to perform under any conditions with the tiki-taka mentality being instilled in each individual. Watching games, it seemed like no one in the Barcelona side ever thought they could lose a match nor did the opposition every truly think they could be them. They were better than any other side in world football and they knew it. Most of the time the game was over before the first whistle had even been blown. A side averaging 65% possession a game for 4 years is ridiculous.
Guardiola and the Barcelona he led over the four seasons he was there claimed the most titles of any side in history over the same period of time. They not only just won the trophies but they won them in style. High possession, high work rate, pressing to win the ball back quickly and not being stagnant in possession has made them one of the most memorable sides in the history of the game, and it was Guardiola’s reign that got them to that status.
Below is Guardiola’s best squad that played in the prime of his managerial term:
In addition to this team, Guardiola boasted a whole host of players over his 4 seasons that could be an exceptional side. Not all the players in the following squad played together but would be a formidable side to face:
Comments