Guardiola is no longer the one with the touch or the one with the non-negotiable style. Now he is the one with effectiveness, the coach who has learned from defeats, the one who has understood that there is not just one style of football.
Pep Guardiola he is a born worker, of those who get up, go to bed and dream about football. An insatiable guy, moreover, extremely methodical, surely obsessive, and that, of course, leaves nothing to chance. He controls absolutely everything, from the food to the rest of the players going through the part that he enjoys and masters the most, the tactical concepts. Definitely, he deserved more than anyone Champions. His Champions. Neither Rodrigo’s, nor Haaland’s. He was the one who made possible the defeat of his black beast, Real Madrid, in a terrible second leg for Ancelotti’s team. He removed the thorn that hurt him so much and opened the way to the title he so longed for, even if it was hard for him to admit it.
He is the one who has known how to lead the other Manchester team, the ugly duckling, to the European glory that has cost so much time and millions. And he has done it by applying the intelligence that characterizes him. Pep is no longer the one with the touch or the one with the non-negotiable style. Now is the effectivenessthe coach who has learned from defeats, the one who has understood that there is no single style of football.
Pep knows and recognizes that Ancelotti is a great coach. Even that Simeone, the reverse of him in terms of how to face a football game, is also. He has finally assumed that it is Guardiola who has to adapt to the players and not the other way around. His outstanding student Xavi has gone through the same process, but much faster.
When I was coaching in Qatar, possession, incessant attacking, open ends and other classic concepts were indispensable. To win otherwise was almost an insult. The how prevailed over the result, but in the end he has won the League being the king of 1-0. And well that all the culés have celebrated it.
Pep innovated when he arrived at Barça, Cruyff style evolved until he improved it by far with the supreme version of Messi, Xavi and Iniesta and built the best Barça in history. Twelve years later, he has won the Champions League again thanks, in large part, to a change in style. Winning the Istanbul final was not an illusion, it was an obligation. It had to be done anyway. Congratulations Pep. enjoy it.