Pep Guardiola became the first manager in history to win the Treble twice when his Manchester City side beat Inter Milan to lift the Champions League trophy on Saturday.

Having already achieved the holy grail of league title, domestic cup and European glory with Barcelona in 2009, Guardiola and his City players became the 10th team to ever achieve the feat.

Guardiola is the greatest coach football has ever known.

Not because he wins things - 17 major trophies and counting - but because he has changed football.

I recently met up with one of Europe's most coveted young coaches and the conversation turned to what made the 52-year-old Spaniard special.

"Pep gave an instruction to Joao Cancelo," the coach told me. "I heard it and all I could think was: 'I know what you are about to do and I can't defend against it.'"

The coach said what made Guardiola so special is his search for perfection is relentless, even though it doesn't need to be. His team are good enough to win anyway. But he still pushes for 100%.

Former France, Arsenal and Barcelona striker Thierry Henry recently told Guardiola he is "the greatest manager of all time". Others have a similar view.

Manchester City midfielder Fernandinho says he can convince you that what he tells you is what is going to happen in a match. Then gives you all the information you need to deal with the situation.

"The way I see football now… I'd never, ever seen it like that before I met him," he said.

Recalling the team talk before Barcelona's 2011 Champions League final success against Manchester United, midfielder Javier Mascherano said that as Guardiola spoke, it was as if he was referring to a game that they were playing there and then.

He said: "You shut your eyes and you were out there in the middle of the action. During the match I was thinking: 'I've seen this already. Pep has already told me about it.'

"Everything that he said would happen, happened as he said it would."

Manchester City's Ilkay Gundogan describes him as a "genius who reads the game and covers every situation imaginable".

According to the late Johan Cruyff, from the moment Guardiola took charge at Barcelona in 2008, all he wanted to do was, "make football better, take his team to another level". Former Argentina boss Jorge Sampaoli has called him "the coach with the most imagination in football".

He has an ability to get the very last drop out of his team and a ruthless, dispassionate willingness to discard players unable to give him total commitment.

Those qualities, matched by the standard of his players, put him light years ahead of the rest.

after he had taken over at Barcelona in 2008.

His goalkeeper Victor Valdes explained: "I remember my first conversation with Guardiola. It was in his office at the Nou Camp. He had a tactics board with two small magnets either side of the goal just outside the box. He said: 'Do you know which players these two are?'

"He said: 'These are your centre-backs.' I had no idea what he was talking about and he said: 'When you've got the ball. this is where I want them to be.' I thought he was crazy.

"Then he said: 'You'll pass to them. And it's from here we'll build the play.' I still thought he was completely mad. But given I'm a bit crazy myself, I felt in tune with him. So I replied: 'The defenders would have to be brave and want the ball.' Pep said: 'Don't worry, that's my job. I'll make sure they want it.' And that's how it all started".

The door was opened to a new world.

From then on, his job has been to convince players through his training sessions to do what he needs them to do. That is something that goes against the grain for most footballers.

Let's remember for a moment how football has evolved; it comes from the streets, from each player and his own individual initiative.

But gradually it becomes a more organised collective process. While Guardiola has said in the past that "the player is the one who deserves all the credit", you sense that he knows that the player without instructions is nothing.

This Manchester City side are an optimum version of him. Eleven players all working towards a single idea. A coach's dream.

That is no less than he demands. In the past - at Bayern Munich and Barcelona - when he felt he no longer had that, he packed his bags.

Source: BBC

BDST: 1322 HRS, JUNE 11, 2023
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