Guardiola's stage in Germany: titles, but a shattered dream in Europe.

2024-01-22 21:01

When discussions about the best coach of all time are taking place, it would be a sin not to mention the name of Josep "Pep" Guardiola.

After the historic season for the "Man City" club, the specialist once again wrote himself into the record books. After the victory of the "citizens" in the final of the UEFA Champions League against Inter Milan, he became the first coach to achieve a "treble" twice in his career. Perhaps this record will remain just a dream for many strategists, but let's not dismiss the possibility that Guardiola himself will be able to improve it.

The coach dominated local leagues with both the Barcelona, Man City, and Bayern clubs. In this article, we decided to review the tactical three-year period spent in the Bundesliga team.

Tactics and positioning on the field

Pep has always been known for his excellent tactical flexibility. He is a master at assigning unique roles to his players. His decisions were very clear last season, as his desire at a certain point to turn John Stones into a safe player became a unique move that greatly helped the team.

Upon arriving at the Bayern team, Guardiola started his work by implementing a 4-1-4-1 formation on the field. At that time, the Bundesliga team had several world-class midfielders who were quite versatile. This allowed the coach to experiment with this complex formation. However, later in the season, Pep switched to a 4-2-3-1 formation.

The coach's tactical adjustment abilities were very noticeable as he played with several formations, such as 4-2-2-2, 3-5-2, or 2-3-5.

The team and passing

Upon Pep's arrival, Bayern already had a world-class team full of great players. That season, the club also signed two notable newcomers - Thiago and Mario Gotze. Players like Mario Gomez, Emre Can, and Luiz Gustavo left the team.

The Munich Bayern team already had Manuel Neuer as the goalkeeper, and in defense, stars like Dante, Rafinha, Jerome Boateng, Holger Badstuber, David Alaba, and club captain Philipp Lahm were playing.

In the midfield, there were also many stars, as Thiago and Gotze joined Javi Martinez, Xherdan Shaqiri, Arjen Robben, Franck Ribery, Thomas Muller, Toni Kroos, and Bastian Schweinsteiger.

Mario Mandzukic and Claudio Pizarro were the two main attackers of the team. In the following seasons, several changes took place in the Bayern team. Players like Robert Lewandowski, Xabi Alonso, Medhi Benatia, Arturo Vidal, Douglas Costa, and Joshua Kimmich joined the Bavarians.

On the other hand, later, players like Toni Kroos, Dante, Bastian Schweinsteiger, Xherdan Shaqiri, and Mario Mandzukic left the team.

Guardiola's first two seasons in charge

Pep's career stage in Germany started poorly as Bayern lost the German Super Cup match to Borussia Dortmund (4:2). However, in that season, the Munich team still managed to win the UEFA Super Cup and the Club World Cup.

Upon arriving in the Bundesliga, Guardiola dominated the German championships in his first season. Bayern won the league with 7 games remaining in the season, becoming the team that triumphed earliest in Bundesliga history. The strategist, as a newcomer, also achieved the longest winning streak with 28 wins before being forced to admit Augsburg's 1-0 advantage.

In the Champions League, the Bayern team reached the semi-finals where they faced the powerful Real Madrid. The dreams of the Munich club were shattered as "Los Blancos" triumphed with an overall result of 5-0. In the 2013-2014 season, Bayern ended by winning the DFB-Pokal cup against Borussia Dortmund with a 2-0 win in extra time.

The second season of Pep again started poorly - with a 0:2 loss to Borussia Dortmund in the German Super Cup. The matches were a sign that the club would not sweep all possible titles again. The Bavarians became German champions but ultimately did not win the DFB-Pokal. Bayern once again reached another Champions League semi-final, where they immediately lost (3:5) to the Barcelona team.

The last season and conclusions

Guardiola's last season with Bayern began unsuccessfully, as the club lost the German Super Cup match to the Wolfsburg team. Traditions were not broken, and in the Champions League, in the semi-final stage, the team faced the barrier of Atletico Madrid. However, Pep managed to successfully end the season as Bayern were crowned Bundesliga champions again, and also won the DFB-Pokal title, defeating the Dortmund team in his last match.

After three seasons, Guardiola left Bayern. Despite not being able to win the Champions League with Bayern, his work at the club can still be considered very successful.

The trophies collected by the strategist in three years in Germany - three Bundesliga titles, two German cups, UEFA Super Cup, and FIFA Club World Cup.

In Germany, he even introduced a kind of cult - local coaches began to copy the elements of the "tiki-taka" tactics, and according to critics, established principles were thus shattered. According to them, the best example of Guardiola's influence - the German national team, which started showing poor results, thus losing its usual playing style and suitable players.

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