Barcelona Coach Pep Guardiola Quits European Soccer
Champion
2012-04-27 12:49:24.88 GMT
(Adds comment
from Arsenal coach in 12th, 13th paragraphs.)
By Alex Duff
April 27
(Bloomberg) — Pep Guardiola, the most successful Barcelona coach ever, will
quit the Spanish soccer club after losses in the last week ended its chance to
defend its league and European titles.
The
41-year-old announced his resignation today at a press conference. Assistant
coach Tito Vilanova will take over, club president Sandro Rosell said.
“After four
years, everyone gets tired,” Guardiola said.
“You can only recover by getting away and resting.”
Barcelona lost
at home to Real Madrid April 21 to fall seven points behind Real with four
games remaining in the Spanish season. Barcelona was eliminated by Chelsea in
the Champions League semifinals three days later.
Guardiola has
overseen two Champions League titles — more than any other Barcelona coach –
and three Spanish titles since replacing Frank Rijkaard in 2008. Johan Cruijff
and Rijkaard are the other coaches to have led Barcelona to elite European
titles, in 1992 and 2006.
Guardiola said
he would take a break from soccer.
“I will
probably return, but not now,” he said.
Guardiola had
been coach of the Barcelona reserve team.
Former president Joan Laporta promoted him to lead the
first team after a single season because of his knowledge of the team’s style.
He captained
Barcelona as a midfielder, playing 379 times for the team between 1990 and
2001. The period included winning the 1992 European Cup.
Success
In his first
season as coach, Barcelona won each of the six competitions it took part in
including Spain’s La Liga and Copa del Rey, the world club championship and the
Champions League.
Guardiola said
he told club executives in February that he was nearing the end of his stint as
coach. He had a rolling contract that expired at the end of the season, and the
former Barcelona player turned down Rosell’s offer of an extension.
Barcelona lost
1-0 to Chelsea and then was held to a 2-2 draw April 24th at the Camp Nou to
lose 3-2 to the London team in the two-match semifinal.
“I couldn’t
make a decision based upon one result,” the coach said. “My head had already
decided that this was my last season.”
Barcelona’s
style under Guardiola has focused on accurate passing and ball control, giving
the team 60 to 70 percent of possession in most matches. Arsenal coach Arsene
Wenger said he was disappointed that the Spaniard was quitting because he
appreciated the squad’s fluid style of play.
Philosophy
“Guardiola is
one of the representatives of this philosophy and made this philosophy triumph
so I would have loved him, even going through a disappointing year, to stay and
come back and insist with his philosophy,” the Frenchman said.
“That would be interesting.”
Vilanova was
Guardiola’s assistant for the last several years. He returned to the training
ground last year 15 days after an operation on a parotid gland. He trained with
Guardiola in Barcelona’s youth squad, but never played in a league match for
the club. The former midfielder played for Celta Vigo in Spain’s top league.
“Why Tito?
Because he represents everything that this club represents,” Barcelona sports
director Andoni Zubizarreta.
“The style of play, the analysis, everything. He puts in
hours until he goes to sleep to prepare things. We need somebody like that.”
For Related News and Information:
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