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The mountain has been summited. All that lies ahead of Pep Guardiola is blue sky. Having reached one of the greatest peaks in all football and then done it again with Manchester City 14 years later, the 52-year-old might be entitled to conclude that there are no worlds left for him to conquer.
There is a unique spot in history afforded to Guardiola. In the history of European football only 10 teams have won this treble, their domestic league, primary domestic cup and the European Cup. Only one manager has done it twice. It might be nothing more than a statistical quirk, but in some ways the treble double is as good a reflection of Guardiola’s qualities as anything else: a manager always striving for football perfection, but one who has come as close as is reasonably possible on two separate occasions. There are some, not many, who can better his 11 league titles and a case could be made that there have been greater teams than Barcelona in 2009 and Manchester City in 2023. To have built two of the greatest teams in history, however, is something only one man can lay claim to, the biggest factor in his favor in any argument over who the greatest ever coach is.
If Guardiola were to ask his counterparts in the Premier League, they might well tell him that now is the best time to ride off into the sunset. The English game with him in it seems unfairly weighed in favor of City, winners of five of the last six titles in England. It would appear that the man himself is coming around to that point of view. Multiple reports have suggested that come the end of his contract in 2025, the Catalan will depart the Etihad Stadium. Such a departure point would make a lot of sense. A man whose sporting hero is Michael Jordan would still have time to replicate the Chicago Bulls’ threepeat, in the process leapfrogging Carlo Ancelotti as the competition’s most successful coach. Equally, timescales are as unclear…
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