In the modern era, there aren't many more important managers than Pep Guardiola. He has revolutionised football in Spain with Barcelona, in Germany with Bayern Munich, and then in England with Manchester City.
His dominance in the sport is enough for many to feel he is the best manager of the 21st century, and consequently among the finest coaches in the history of football. The Catalan has scaled great heights for some time now, and it all began for him in his home city.
Born in Santpedor, Barcelona, Guardiola joined La Masia at age 13 and rose through the academy ranks to become a key senior player. After retiring, he would coach Barcelona B before inheriting a team of stars just ready to explode.
With Lionel Messi, Xavi, Andres Iniesta and many other talented players, Guardiola created one of the best teams of all time. From 2008 to 2012, La Blaugrana dominated European football, winning three La Liga titles, three Copa del Reys, two Champions Leagues and two Club World Cups.
Despite all his success, however, the Catalan native has since named Marcelo Bielsa as the one manager who would have won even more than him at Barcelona.
Pep Guardiola In Awe of Marcelo Bielsa
Has priased the former Leeds United boss many times
Speaking to Telemundo Sports (via Goal), Guardiola made a bold claim, asserting that Bielsa would have achieved even more than he did at Camp Nou. The Manchester City boss explained in 2022 that the Argentine had proven his quality by getting Leeds United back into the Premier League:
"Give him my Barcelona and you will see how he will win [more] titles. Give me Leeds, with all due respect to the Leeds players, but I would still be in the Championship."
That was not the first time Guardiola had praised Bielsa either. A few years earlier, he went as far as to say the Argentine was the person he 'admired the most in world football'.
"He is probably the person I admire the most in world football - as a manager and as a person," he said. "He is the most authentic manager in terms of how he conducts his teams. He is unique. Nobody can imitate him, it's impossible.
"I don't see him quite as much but when I get the pleasure to spend time with him, it's always inspirational."
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Bielsa Inspired Guardiola
They met in 2006 and it changed football forever
Bielsa famously helped persuade the Spaniard to take up coaching near the end of his playing days. Indeed, in 2006 Guardiola made – on the advice of Gabriel Batistuta, his former teammate at Al-Ahli – the pilgrimage to Bielsa’s ranch in the Argentinian countryside.
The pair would hit it off, discussing football with great intensity from noon until midnight. They would even rearrange the furniture in order to demonstrate a tactical point. At the dead of night, Guardiola would eventually return to his hotel in Buenos Aires and text a friend: “I’ve just met the person who knows the most about football.”
Their path would then meet again in 2012 as Guardiola's Barca beat Bielsa's Athletic Club in the 2012 Copa del Rey final, before they would cross paths yet again as Premier League managers for Man City and Leeds in 2020.