Barcelona B
Guardiola was appointed coach of FC Barcelona B on 21 June 2007 with Francesc Vilanova his assistant. Under his guidance, the team subsequently won their Tercera División group and qualified for the 2008 Segunda División B playoffs, which the team won, thereby achieving promotion.[13] FC Barcelona president Joan Laporta announced before the end of the 2007–08 season that Guardiola would be appointed manager of FC Barcelona to replace Frank Rijkaard at the end of the season.[14]Barcelona
2008–09 season
In association with Barça's director of sport, Txiki Begiristain, several new signings were made by Guardiola: Daniel Alves and Seydou Keita arrived from Sevilla, Martín Cáceres from Villarreal by way of Recreativo, Gerard Piqué returned from Manchester United, and Alexander Hleb was signed from Arsenal. Henrique was also signed from Palmeiras, but was immediately loaned out to Bayer Leverkusen.[16] In interviews with the press, Guardiola stressed a harder work ethic than before, but also a more personal approach during training and a closer relationship with his players. Along with the new signings, Guardiola promoted canteranos Sergio Busquets, Pedro Rodríguez and Jeffrén Suárez, to the first team squad. His influences as a coach include mostly Johan Cruyff, but also Louis van Gaal, Juan Manuel Lillo and Marcelo Bielsa.
Guardiola's first competitive game as coach was in the third qualifying round of the Champions League, in which Barça comfortably beat Polish club Wisła Kraków 4–0 at home. They then lost 1–0 in Kraków, but progressed with a 4–1 aggregate victory. Promoted Numancia also defeated Barcelona in the opening match-day of the La Liga, but the team then went on an undefeated streak for over 20 matches to move to the top of the league. Barça maintained their spot atop La Liga's table, securing their first league title since 2006 when rivals Real Madrid lost at Villareal on 16 May 2009. The most important match however was on 2 May when they defeated Real Madrid 2–6 at the Santiago Bernabéu.
Guardiola finished the season by leading Barça to the final of the Champions League, where they beat Manchester United 2–0. In doing so, they became the first Spanish club to win the domestic cup, league, and European club titles (the treble) in the same season.[citation needed] Furthermore, Guardiola became the youngest man to coach a Champions League winning team.[citation needed]
2009–10 season
During Guardiola's second season as manager Barcelona traded Samuel Eto'o and €49M for Zlatan Ibrahimović. The club also signed Maxwell from Internazionale and Dmytro Chygrynskiy from Shakhtar Donetsk. Many players left the club on the same transfer window; Eiður Guðjohnsen was sold to Monaco, Sylvinho and Albert Jorquera's contracts ended and other players were loaned out, including Alexander Hleb to Stuttgart, Martín Cáceres to Juventus, Alberto Botía to Sporting de Gijón and Víctor Sánchez to Xerez.
Barcelona started the season defeating Athletic Bilbao in the Spanish Super Cup and Shakhtar Donetsk in the European Super Cup. On 25 September 2009, Barcelona gave Guardiola his 50th professional victory, away against Málaga and on 19 December they were crowned Club World Cup champions for the first time in their history. Guardiola finished the calendar year 2009 with a record 6 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.
After winning every trophy they competed for in 2009, Barcelona suffered their first elimination under Guardiola in January 2010 against Sevilla in the Copa del Rey. January 2010 also saw Guardiola become Barcelona's longest serving Spanish coach, overtaking the record previously held by Josep Samitier. That same month, on the twentieth, he agreed to a one-year contract extension to keep him with Barcelona until the end of the 2010–11 season.[17] February of the same year saw Guardiola coach his one hundredth match for Barcelona's first team. His record stood at 71 wins, 19 draws and 10 losses with 242 goals for and 76 against.[18] On 10 April 2010, he became the first manager in Barcelona's history to beat Real Madrid four times in a row in El Clásico.[citation needed]
Barcelona reached the semi-finals of the 2009–10 Champions League, but lost 3–2 on aggregate to Internazionale.[citation needed] Despite this they managed to win their 20th La Liga title with a European record of 99 points by beating Real Valladolid 4–0 at home.[citation needed] The La Liga title was Guardiola's seventh trophy as manager of the club, tying Ferdinand Daučík for second behind Johan Cruyff and his 11 trophies.
On 8 June 2010, the Royal Spanish Football Federation fined Guardiola €15,000, following a formal inquiry opened by the Competition Committee regarding his actions and comments during and after a match against Almeria on 6 March 2010.[19] Guardiola approached the fourth official with, according to the official report, malicious intent, berating the official and speaking into his microphone with phrases such as, "You are calling everything wrong." Following the match, Guardiola accused Carlos Clos Gomez and his assistant Jose Luis Gallego Galdino of "lying" in their match report. Barcelona were given 10 days to appeal the sanction. TV replays supported Guardiola's assertions. The game ended 2–2.
2010–11 season
Guardiola's third season in charge saw the departure of two players who had arrived last season, Dmytro Chygrynskiy returned to Shakhtar Donetsk and Zlatan Ibrahimović moved to Milan. Rafael Márquez and Thierry Henry were released from their contracts and moved to New York Red Bulls, Yaya Touré also left the team and moved to Manchester City. The club signed Adriano from Sevilla, David Villa from Valencia CF and Javier Mascherano from Liverpool.
On 14 July 2010, Guardiola signed a new contract to stay with Barcelona until June 2011.[20] On 21 August, Barcelona beat Sevilla 5–3 on aggregate to win the 2010 Spanish Supercup, his second in a row. On 29 November 2010, Barcelona beat Real Madrid 5–0, giving Guardiola five straight wins in as many matches in El Clásico.[citation needed] On 8 February 2011, Guardiola accepted the club's offer for a one-year deal extension, signing a contract until June 2012.[21] On 16 February, in the first leg of the Champions League First Knockout Round, Barcelona were defeated by Arsenal 1–2 at the Emirates Stadium. The defeat prolonged Guardiola's record of never having won the away leg of a Champions League knockout tie. On 8 March, in the second leg of the Champions League First Knockout Round, Barcelona defeated Arsenal 3–1 thus winning 4–3 on aggregate, moving them into the quarter-finals.
Early April saw Barcelona move eight points clear of second placed Real Madrid in their domestic league, after a key away win against Villareal CF, making the most of Real Madrid's home loss against Sporting Gijón earlier on the same day. Barcelona managed to advance to the semi-finals of the Champions League for the fourth year (three last under Guardiola) in a row after thrashing Shakhtar Donetsk 6–1 on aggregate.
Following the Champions League campaign, Barcelona continued their La Liga crusades for the second El Clásico in Santiago Bernabéu which ended 1–1. Messi scored for his team from penalty spot after Raúl Albiol was sent off. It was later replied by Real Madrid's Cristiano Ronaldo from a penalty kick in the 80th minute of the match.
Guardiola suffered his first final defeat during Copa del Rey final against Real Madrid. Cristiano Ronaldo scored the only goal for in the 103rd minute of the match during extra time, giving the club the first title since 2008, as well as José Mourinho's first title in his new club.
In the Champions League, however, Barcelona beat Real Madrid 2–0 at the Santiago Bernabéu in the semi-final first leg, and after a 1–1 draw at Camp Nou they proceeded to Guardiola's second Champions League final in three years as coach for Barcelona.[22] On 11 May 2011, Barcelona won the title and third in a row after a 1–1 draw with Levante UD.[23][24] On 28 May, Barcelona beat Manchester United 3–1 to win the Champions League.[25]
2011–12 season
Guardiola's fourth season in charge started with the departure of three players who had been part of the team for a long time, Gabriel Milito moved back to Independiente, Jeffrén Suárez was sold to Sporting CP and Bojan Krkić was sold to Roma. Two big signings were made: Alexis Sánchez came from Udinese for €26m plus bonuses and Cesc Fàbregas, a former La Masia graduate, returned from Arsenal for €29m plus bonuses. To complete the squad two players where promoted from the youth system: Thiago Alcântara and Andreu Fontàs.
The season started with a 5–4 aggregate win over Real Madrid for the Spanish Super Cup[26]. Barcelona won their second trophy of the season on 26 August beating Porto in the UEFA Super Cup final 2–0.[27] With the trophy won against Porto he became all-time record holder of most titles won as a coach at FC Barcelona. He has won now 12 trophies in only three years.[28] November of the same year saw Guardiola coach his two hundredth match for Barcelona's first team. His record stood at 144 wins, 39 draws and 17 losses with 500 goals for and 143 against.[29]
Barcelona ended the 2011 calendar year winning the Club World Cup trashing Santos 4-0 which was the widest margin of the Intercontinental Cup/Club World Cup final since it's played on a single match format. This was Guardiola's 13th title of only 16 tournaments played.[30]
On 9th January 2012, he was named FIFA Mens World Coach of the Year, beating the likes of Sir Alex Ferguson and José Mourinho to the prestigious award. On his 41st birthday, he led his side to a 2-1 victory over arch-rivals Real Madrid in El Clasico, ensuring that he remains unbeaten in 90 minutes against Real Madrid as a manager.
[edit] Tactics
See also: Tiki-taka
Under Frank Rijkaard,
Barcelona were known for a 4–3–3 with plenty of flair with Ronaldinho
being the centre point of the attack. Under Guardiola the team has
become more disciplined with a greater focus on possession and a far
more disciplined and aggressive pressing style. He often plays a high
defensive line with the full backs (particularly Daniel Alves) pushing high up down their respective sides while relying on the metronomic passing of Xavi Hernández and Andrés Iniesta to retain possession whilst employing an extraordinarily aggressive pressing style without the ball.[31]During Samuel Eto'o's time at Barcelona, Lionel Messi was deployed on the right hand side, however, since his departure Messi has largely played in the centre forward role fulfilling a false nine capacity.[32]
During the 2011-12 season Guardiola made increasing use of the 3-4-3 system, especially when facing two attackers. Using Cesc Fàbregas as an attacking midfielder and Javier Mascherano or Sergio Busquets as pivot on the midfield. Johan Cruyff used this system as a basic tactical approach when Guardiola played for Barcelona. Guardiola used this system in a 5-0 win against Villarreal CF because he was short on defenders, and in a later Champions League game against Milan, he employed this tactic with most of his players vailable. "In Barcelona it is understood that you can win a thousand ways. All are valid. All work. There's little more to say," Guardiola wrote in a column for El Pais in March 2007, when Rijkaard experimented with a three-man backline of his own. "But in Barcelona it is also understood that you can never win and repeat in a way that does not feel right to you—that does not feel right to the directors, coaches, players, friends of the press and the people who go every week to see them."[33]
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