MADRID, April 27 (Reuters) – Factbox on Barcelona coach Pep
Guardiola, who announced on Friday he would step down at the end
of this season.
Born:
* Josep Guardiola i Sala, Jan. 18, 1971, Santpedor, Spain.
Playing career:
* Position – defensive midfielder
* Joined Barca’s youth academy in 1984 and was given his
first team debut by coach Johan Cruyff in 1990.
* Won six league titles, two King’s Cups, the European Cup
Winners’ Cup in 1997 and the club’s first European Cup in 1992
before moving on in 2001.
* Had spells with Brescia and AS Roma and played in Qatar
and Mexico before retiring in 2006.
His career with Brescia was disrupted when he tested
positive for nandrolone after a league match and was banned for
four months. Guardiola protested his innocence and eventually
cleared his name through the courts in 2009.
* Helped Spain win the gold medal at the 1992 Barcelona
Olympics and won 47 caps for the full national side.
Coaching Career:
* Appointed coach of Barcelona B, the club’s reserve team,
in 2007 and steered them to the top of their group and promotion
from Spain’s tercera (fourth-tier) division.
* President Joan Laporta promoted him to his first
top-flight post to replace Frank Rijkaard in 2008 and after
off-loading stalwarts Ronaldinho and Deco and bringing in Dani
Alves guided the side to a treble in his first campaign.
They won La Liga, beat Athletic Bilbao in the King’s Cup
final and defeated Manchester United 2-0 in the Champions League
final in Rome.
* In his second season, he off-loaded striker Samuel Eto’o
in a swap deal with Zlatan Ibrahimovic and won the European and
Spanish Super Cups and Barca’s first Club World Cup, defeating
Argentina’s Estudiantes 2-1 in Abu Dhabi. He won six trophies in
2009.
Barca fell in the last 16 of the King’s Cup to Sevilla and
in the Champions League semi-finals to Jose Mourinho’s Inter
Milan but went on to win a second successive La Liga title in
2010 with a record 99-point haul, recording only one defeat.
* For his third campaign, Guardiola rang the changes again,
ditching Ibrahimovic and bringing in Spain striker David Villa.
Barca retained the Spanish Super Cup, went on a 23-match
unbeaten run on the road, a club record, and won the league
again but were beaten 1-0 by Mourinho’s Real Madrid in the
King’s Cup final.
However, they ousted Real in the semi-finals of the
Champions League and overcame Manchester United again in the
final, with a 3-1 triumph in London.
* Guardiola brought in Cesc Fabregas and Alexis Sanchez for
the 2011-12 campaign and lifted the European and Spanish Super
Cups and won a second Club World Cup with a 4-0 thrashing of
Brazil’s Santos in Yokohama.
A last-eight win over Real Madrid set up a King’s Cup final
meeting with Athletic Bilbao on May 25.
Barca reached a record-equalling fifth consecutive Champions
League semi-final but were undone 3-2 on aggregate by Chelsea to
end their hopes of retaining the crown.
* Guardiola has an astonishing record against their great
rivals Real Madrid and guided Barca to a memorable 6-2 win at
the Bernabeu in 2009 and a 5-0 victory at the Nou Camp in 2010.
In four seasons as a coach he has won nine out of 15
‘Clasicos’, drawn four and lost only twice: 1-0 in the Cup final
in 2011 and 2-1 in the league last weekend.
* Guardiola’s focus on promoting academy players into the
first team has seen the likes of striker Pedro and midfielders
Sergio Busquets and Thiago Alcantara blossom and go on to break
into the Spanish national team.
His knack of getting the best out of academy graduate Lionel
Messi has helped the Argentine win three consecutive World
Player of the Year Awards.
(Compiled by Mark Elkington, editing by Ed Osmond)
