At Manchester City, Pep Guardiola has perhaps further proven why he was as revered as he was during his unforgettable spell at Barcelona.
Guardiola’s time at Bayern Munich from 2013 until 2016 was a period that divided opinion.
Speaking to BBC Sport in February, Manuel praised the Manchester City boss for how he helped Bayern dominate sides and his impact on German football.
Neuer said: “But the way in which we did it was special really. We were so dominant and nobody really stood a chance against us.”
“He left a large footprint on Bayern, the Bundesliga and German football benefited a lot from him.”
However, Bastian Schweinsteiger blamed Pep Guardiola for making the German national team a side that prioritised dominating possession over being fighters on the pitch. Furthermore, the Catalan was widely criticised for not winning the Champions League at a club that had won the treble the year he was appointed.
At the Etihad Stadium, however, Martin Keown lauded Guardiola as the greatest manager in the history of the game over the likes of Arsene Wenger and Sir Alex Ferguson.
Sir Alex Ferguson will be red-faced about Pep Guardiola opinion at Man City
It is a testament to his success that City’s rivals fans reacted to Pep Guardiola’s new contract until 2026 by expressing how frustrated they were.
Guardiola’s reported contract extension at Manchester City could mean that by the end of his spell, he could go down as the fourth longest-serving manager in Premier League history.
But an interview with Sky Sports in March 2016, Sir Alex Ferguson predicted the decorated coach would be unable to be as successful at Manchester City as he was at Barcelona after his appointment was confirmed.
Ferguson initially said: “Without question, Pep [Guardiola] has got a fantastic work ethic about him, he demands that from all of his training sessions.”
“Anyone who thinks they’re not going to work hard at City won’t last long. He has got great coaching ability, there is no doubt about that.”
The Scot added: “Every foreign coach that has come to England will tell you that. Arsene Wenger was talking about that a few months after coming and even Jose Mourinho was.”
“Pep will be a success but I don’t think he’ll ever replicate what he did at Barcelona because that was a high standard – they were the best.”
It’s safe to say that Sir Alex Ferguson’s claim has aged poorly to say the least.
In terms of success, Pep Guardiola has comfortably outdone his time at Barcelona as Manchester City boss.
| COMPETITION | GUARDIOLA AT BARCELONA | GUARDIOLA AT MAN CITY |
| LEAGUE TITLES | 3 | 6 |
| CHAMPIONS LEAGUE | 2 | 1 |
| DOMESTIC CUPS | 2 | 6 |
| TREBLES | 1 |
Guardiola has far more trophies at City while also managing to last for a decade in arguably the best league in the world as well.
In terms of rebuilding both sides as well, the core of Barcelona’s sides largely remained the same for much of the Catalan’s tenure — including stalwarts such as Lionel Messi, Andres Iniesta, Sergio Busquets, Xavi Hernandez and Gerard Pique to name a few.
At Manchester City, however, Guardiola has had the challenge of having to manage several different iterations of his side — from the time when Vincent Kompany, Fernandinho, Kevin De Bruyne and Sergio Aguero were the spine of his team to last season, where Ruben Dias, Rodri, Phil Foden and Erling Haaland were the centrepieces of his title-winning cohort.
Furthermore, winning four league titles in a row for the Sky Blues as well, Pep Guardiola’s dominance of English football has reached a scale no team has in history; while in Spain, other teams such as Real Madrid’s legendary side from 1960 until 1965 had even won five consecutive titles.
In terms of points tallies as well, Guardiola’s ‘Manchester City’s ‘Centurions’ side from the 2017/2018 season recorded more points than any team in a single season in English football; while his Barcelona side from the 2009/2010 campaign (99 points) were overtaken by Real Madrid in the 2011/2012 term (100 points).
At the time, Pep Guardiola was still managing in La Liga and a season after his exit, Tito Vilanova matched Los Blancos’ points tally as well.
Guardiola’s Barcelona side are widely considered the greatest club side in history and ultimately, whether fans, pundits, players and managers feel they are superior to this City side comes down to personal preference.
It goes without saying that the Blaugrana side Pep Guardiola managed was a once-in-a-generation team.
But ultimately, Sir Alex Ferguson’s confidence in doubting that the two-time treble-winner would not be able to replicate his success at Barcelona when he joined Manchester City has proven to be an appalling call from the great man.
It could be argued that the best version of Guardiola has been witnessed by English football, considering it is undeniably that the quality of personnel in his Barcelona side was superior to his City teams.
How Guardiola proved Ferguson wrong in 2019 as well
Sir Alex Ferguson had famously used one word to describe the possibility of any team winning the domestic treble one day: “impossible”, as quoted by the Daily Mail.
However, in 2019, as Manchester City demolished Watford 6-0 in the FA Cup final in 2019, they proved Ferguson wrong.
In the process, Pep Guardiola made the impossible possible in only his third season at City.
Even legendary footballing minds like Sir Alex Ferguson can make mistakes at times.
It speaks volumes of Guardiola’s genius that he managed to make a claim made by Ferguson look as silly as it does nowadays.
If any manager could manage to do so, it was the six-time Premier League winner, who beat the Manchester United icon in two Champions League finals.
