Spain League

Guardiola joined La Masia at the age of 13 and rose through the ranks at the youth academy of Barcelona for six years, making his début in 1990 against Cádiz. As Phil Ball writes in Morbo,

Johan Cruyff utilised the young defensive midfielder in the absence of the suspended Guillermo Amor. He became a first team regular in the 1991–92 season and at only 20 years old was a key component of a side that won La Liga, the European Cup and the Spain national side that triumphed at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics. The prestigious Italian magazine Guerin Sportivo heraldedGuardiola as the finest player in the world under the age of 21.

Cruyff's Dream Team went on to retain the La Liga title in the 92–93 and 93–94 seasons. The side was strengthened by the recent signing of Romário, again reached the UEFA Champions League Final, but were humbled by Capello's Milan in Athens, and lost the match 0–4.

Cruyff left in 1996, with Barcelona finishing 4th in the 1994–95 season and 3rd in the 1995–96 season, but Guardiola retained his position at the center of Barcelona's midfield. In the 1996–97 season, Barcelona, this time led by Bobby Robson, won three cups – the Copa del Rey, the UEFA Super Cup and the Cup Winners' Cup. Much of the Dream Team had by this time left, with new signings such as Luís Figo and Ronaldo taking over from Hristo Stoichkov and Txiki Begiristain. At the end of the 1997–98 season, Barcelona rejected offers from Roma and Parma (of around 300 millionpesetas)^{[citation needed]} for Guardiola. After prolonged and complicated contract talks, Guardiola signed a new contract with the Catalan club which extended his stay until 2001. His buyout clause was fixed at 15.000 million pesetas, the second highest in the Spanish league.

A calf muscle injury ruled Guardiola out of most of the 1997–98 season, in which Barcelona won a league and cup double under new manager Louis van Gaal. He returned to action the following season and Barcelona once again won the league thanks largely to the performances of Rivaldo and Figo.^{[original research?]} On 8 June 1998, Guardiola underwent surgery to try to solve once and for all the problems that he was experiencing with his calf which had led to him missing the 1998 FIFA World Cup for Spain. A largely disappointing 1999–00 season ended once again in surgery asGuardiola missed the last three months of the season due to a serious ankle injury.

Barcelona didn't win any silverware during the 2001 season and finished fourth place in the league, but qualifying for the Champions League. On 11 April 2001, Barcelona's captain announced his intention to leave the club after 17 years of service. He stated that it was a personal decision and, in part, a response to what he perceived as football heading in a new, more physical, direction.^{[cite this quote]} On 24 June 2001, Guardiola played his last match with Barça in the last game of the season against Celtic.

Guardiola played 479 games for the club, in 12 seasons in the Barcelona first team, winning 16 trophies. At the press conference after the Celtic game, he said: "It's been a long journey. I'm happy, proud, happy with the way people treated me and I have made many friends. I cannot ask for more. I have had many years in the elite. I did not come to make history but to make my own history."^{[cite this quote]} Guardiola was slow, but intelligently gifted with skill and foresight, rarely scored goals but set up from difficult positions on the field,^{[original research?]} he won six league titles, a European Cup and Olympic gold, amongst other numerous trophies. Born in the Catalan town of Santpedor, schooled barely 100 metres from Camp Nou and resident at La Masia, the traditional farmhouse that stands incongruously in its shadow, he was a part of a gifted side Barcelona produced, ordering, constructing, constantly moving the ball. He has been called the hero of a number of Spain's current midfielders, as Xavi Hernández, Andrés Iniesta and Cesc Fàbregas have all stated that Guardiola was their role model and hero.^[3]

After leaving Barcelona in 2001 at the age of 30, he was linked with several clubs such as Newcastle United, Manchester United, West Ham United, Tottenham Hotspur and Liverpool, plus both Milanese clubs of Milan and Internazionale. But Guardiola joined Italian side Brescia Calcio and then Roma in the Italian Serie A. However, his time in Italy was unhappy and included a four month ban after testing positive for Nandrolone. Six years later, on 23 October 2007, Guardiola was cleared on appeal of all charges that had led to the ban.^[4] However, CONI reopened the case against the player, because it considered the argumentation of the absolution unacceptable,^[5] but he was cleared once again on 29 September 2009.^[6] His time in Italy was not nearly as successful as his career at Barcelona. He played a number of Coppa Italia games and UEFA Champions League games, finishing with 71 games in Italy.

After his career with Brescia and Roma, at 34 years of age he chose to play in Qatar with Al-Ahli from Doha in the Qatar Stars League, where many fellow greats were playing, such as Gabriel Batistuta. He had rejected another offer from Manchester United, as he wanted to play elsewhere. He became a regular in the Qatar Stars League, often cited as one of the best players in the League.^{[citation needed]} In 2005–06, he turned down offers from a number European sides, such as Manchester City, Manchester United and Chelsea, as he felt his playing career was coming to a close.^[7]

In 2006 when Juan Manuel Lillo was appointed manager of Mexican club Dorados de Sinaloa, he recruited Guardiola to play for the club, while he was in managing school in Axocopan, Atlixco, Puebla. He subsequently played for six months, before retiring definitively.

Guardiola made his senior debut on 14 October 1992 in 0–0 draw with Northern Ireland at Windsor Park in a World Cup qualifier. In the same year, Guardiola captained Spain when they won a gold medal at the Barcelona Olympic Games. It was in this year when he won the Bravo Award, voted to be the world's best player under the age of 21. Between 1992 and 2001, Guardiola was a regular midfield maestro, playing over 47 times and scoring five goals for the senior Spain team, becoming a Spanish midfield player. He was a member of the Spain team during the 1994 World Cup, where he followed Spain to the quarter-finals, losing to Italy 2–1. He fell out of favour with Javier Clemente, the Spain manager, due to difference and disagreement between the two, and missed out on Euro 1996. He suffered a career-threatening injury in 1998, which kept him out of the 1998 World Cup, but he later played at Euro 2000, where he lead Spain to yeter another quarter-final appearance, this time losing to France by the same margin, 2–1. He lead the Spain midfield until his final appearance for Spain, in 1–0 win in a friendly against Mexico on 14 November 2001, and scoring his last international goal against Sweden in a 1–1 draw, in his 45 appearance.^[8][9]

Guardiola has also played for and been a strong advocate of the Catalonia national football team.^[10] Between 1995 and 2005, he played seven friendly games for the national team of Catalonia.^[11]

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.^[12] Barcelona president Joan Laporta announced before the end of the 2007–08 season that Josep Guardiola would be appointed manager of FC Barcelona to replace Frank Rijkaard at the end of the season.^[13]

Upon being appointed Guardiola revealed that Ronaldinho, Deco, Samuel Eto'o and others were not part of his plans for next season. By the time of the announcement, Guardiola had already offloaded full back Gianluca Zambrotta to Milan, attacking midfielder Giovani dos Santos to Tottenham Hotspur, and midfielder Edmílson to Villarreal.^[14] Deco went to Chelsea, while the iconic Ronaldinho joined Gianluca Zambrotta in Milan. Lilian Thuram was initially going to join Paris Saint-Germain on a free transfer but the discovery of a heart condition put a stop to the move, and the veteran retired to tend to his health.Oleguer Presas signed with Ajax, Santiago Ezquerro was released by Barça and Marc Crosas was sold to Celtic. The fate of Samuel Eto'o took much of the summer to unravel, with the Cameroonian linked with several clubs, but Guardiola finally declared that he would stay after his dedication in training and participation in the pre-season.^[15]

In association with Barça's director of sport, Txiki Begiristain, several new signings were made by Guardiola: Daniel Alves and Seydou Keita arrived fromSevilla, 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 some 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, José Antonio Camacho and Fabio Capello.

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 inKraków, 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 May 16, 2009. The most important match however was on May 2 when they defeated Real Madrid 2-6 at the Santiago Bernabéu.

The league title was the second piece of silverware in Guardiola's first season at the Camp Nou. On May 13, 2009, Barcelona won the Copa del Rey, defeatingAthletic Bilbao 4–1.

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. Furthermore, Guardiola became the youngest coach ever to coach a Champions League winning team.

During his second season as manager Barcelona traded Samuel Eto'o and €49M for Zlatan Ibrahimović. The club also signed Maxwell from Internazionale andDmytro Chygrynskiy from Shakhtar Donetsk. Many players left the club on the same transfer window; Eiður Guðjohnsen was sold to Monaco, Sylvinho andAlbert Jorquera contracts ended and other players where loaned out, including Alexander Hleb to Stuttgart, Martín Cáceres to Juventus, Alberto Botía toSporting de Gijón and Víctor Sánchez to Xerez.

Barcelona started the season defeating Athletic Bilbao on the Spanish Super Cup and Shakhtar Donetsk on the European Super Cup. On September 25, 2009, Barcelona gave Guardiola his 50th professional victory, away against Málaga and on December 19 they where 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 played on 2009 on January 2010 Guardiola suffered his first elimination as coach against Sevilla on the Copa del Rey, but he also became 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 April 10, 2010, he became the first manager in Barcelona's history to beat Real Madrid four times in a row in El Clásico.

Barcelona reached the semi-finals of the 2009–10 Champions League, but lost 3–2 on aggregate to Internazionale. 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. He also became Barcelona's second manager with most trophies – 7 – after Johan Cruyff (11) and tied with Ferdinand Daučík.

On 8 June 2010, the Royal Spanish Football Federation sanctioned 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.

His 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 Márquezand 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 Villafrom Valencia and Javier Mascherano from Liverpool.

On 14 July 2010, Guardiola signed a new contract to stay with Barcelona until June 2011.^[20] On August 21, Barcelona beat Sevilla 5-3 on aggregated 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 tries in El Clásico.