Guardiola- The player

Pep Guardiola has always been associated with Barcelona. Having started there at the age of 13. He joined the world famous academy, La Masia and spent six years honing his skills until he was eventually picked for the first team.

In the 1991-92 season Guardiola became an integral part of Johan Cruyff's legendary side. An achievement very impressive as the player was only 20 at the time. He helped the team from his defensive midfield role to both the league title and the European title.

Guardiola quickly adapted to his central role after Cruyff decided to move him there whilst observing a reserve game. His success earned him the title of the finest player in the world under the age of 21 from Italian magazine Guerin Sportivo.

Guardiola's cup success didn't end there as Barcelona went on to retain the league title for the next 2 seasons. The only negative for the "Dream Team" was an embarrassing 4-0 Champions League final defeat to Fabio Capello's Milan.

After Cruyff left the club in 1996, Barcelona's title winning run came to end and they finished the next two seasons fourth then third.

Guardiola was still seen as important member of the squad and whilst other players were experimented with, he kept his place in the heart of the midfield. After the arrival of Sir Bobby Robson in the 1996-97 season, Barcelona won their first piece of silverware in three years. Starting with the Copa del Rey, they went on to win Supercopa de España and the Cup Winners Cup. Guardiola was again praised for an impressive season.

The next season started with transfer speculation for Guardiola. Roma and Parama were both interested in his signature but Guardiola, after some hesitation, committed to Barcelona until 2001.

The central midfielder spent much of the season on the sidelines with a tricky calf injury. Nevertheless Barça went on to win a league and cup double, guided by new manager Louis van Gaal.

Having recovered during the break, Guardiola was fit to play for the 1998-99 season in which Barcelona again won the league. After missing out on the 1998 World Cup, Guardiola decided to have surgery to try and remove the lingering problem is his calf. The operation was successful but Guardiloa was again rules out towards the end of the 1999-00 season, this time because of an ankle injury.

After 17 years of service in which he played 479 games for the club, Guardila decided it was time to leave the Catalan club. He then went on to join Brescia, Roma, Al-Ahli and Dorados until he eventually retired at the age of 35.

Comments

Brazillian wonder-kid arriving at Barça?

Neymar's future has been uncertain for a long time now. Clubs from every top European league seem to be queuing up for his signature. But the speculation is drawing to a close and the fight for Neymar's signature has turned into a two horse race between the Spanish giants. This will all have to wait until 2014 as Neymar recently snubbed the transfer talk and extended his contract with current club Santos. That doesn't mean Real and Barça can't fight for the first chance to sign the 19 year old. It was recently reported that Barcelona have agreed a fee with Santos for first dibs at Neymar. But any deal that Barça would try to carve out will be met by competition from Real Madrid as well as a hefty price tag. Neymar is currently on £90,000 a week wages in an attempt to see off the European clubs but Barça will try to combat that by offering a deal worth €7 million euros a year. This would put him in the same wage bracket as World Cup winners David Villa and Xavi. Ne...

The Title Race

As we pass the halfway stage of this Liga BBVA season, a team not many would have guessed sits on top of the table. After the success of a league title and a Champions League, many would've predicted Barcelona would be the dominant force in the two horse race that is La Liga. But after a series of shock results, that saw them drop points to Getafe, Athletico Bilbao, Sevilla, Real Sociedad and Valencia, they are currently three points behind leaders Real Madrid. This may not seem like a huge gap but La Liga is not like other leagues such as the Premier League, where there seems to be an upset every week, and the reality is Real Madrid face little concern about dropping points. Especially with the strength in the depth they have. Mourinho knows this, but he is also very wary that the gap has been reduced to three points. So when Madrid face the daunting task of going to the Camp Nou and coming away with a result, Mourinho will be hoping the gap has increased in case Barcelona take ...

Messidependencia returns as Barcelona stutter in Bilbao

Usually the moments of game-changing magic are saved for Lionel Messi but in his absence, one man stood up to take centre stage. 38-year-old Aritz Aduriz had been on the pitch for little over a minute before he was bicycle-kicking his team into a shock win. In La Liga's opener, Barcelona looked tepid. Antoine Griezmann may have hoped it would be he would provide the magic but in the opening stages it was Iñaki Williams, albeit for the other team. For a manager already under fire, it was the worst possible start to the new campaign. Points dropped in the opening games used to be no major cause for concern. Chalk it up to pre-season not being quite right or players not being fully fit and relax in the warm comfort that you have 30+ games to rectify the mistake. Nowadays, with the relentless nature of modern football, a defeat is approaching terminal. Aside from Barcelona, every Champions League semi-finalist from last year won their opening game and their old foe Real Madri...

A Barça Blog

Search This Blog