A well-deserved rest

In a very short time, two decades will have passed since Joan Laporta chose Pep Guardiola as first-team coach. Besides sporting a few more gray hairs, can you imagine how the path of our Barça would have been if José Mourinho had taken the reins of the bench? Laporta, with all his strengths and weaknesses, chose with his heart. And he was absolutely right. No one can doubt his intuition: Hansi Flick is the contemporary example. Guardiola arrived at the bench after winning the Third Division league with Barça Atlètic. A title that he has always made sure to highlight in an extensive and successful record that, if it doesn't make him the best coach in history (for the one writing these lines, he is), it's close.

There were quite a few fans who, when Guardiola was managing the reserve team with professionalism despite being in a lower category, would go to the different stadiums across Catalonia to watch his Barça. From that team, Busquets and Pedro (then still Pedrito) eventually stood out, whom the coach from Santpedor did not hesitate to take to the elite. Busquets became a legend and Pedro played over 300 games as a Blaugrana. Nowadays, we are accustomed to seeing a team full of homegrown youngsters, but Guardiola did not flinch at letting go of some of the big names in the locker room and giving opportunities to little-known lads. He believed, and his confidence was contagious.

It is difficult to write about Guardiola's first season in the first team without getting emotional. Football is a matter of skin, of emotions, of feelings. And Guardiola ignited them all radically. How happy we were. Catalans, sometimes so fearful, so prudent, we walked with puffed-up chests through Europe: he built a team that was the pride of his great master, Johan Cruyff, and that put itself at the center of the football world's radar. Iniesta's goal at Stamford Bridge. The 2-6 at the Santiago Bernabéu. That month of May 2009 will stay with us forever. Again: how happy we were and we were thanks to a Catalan coach, from the club, who loved the club and identified with the country, with Catalonia.

But all stories have a beginning and an end. At Barça, his departure came too soon. Guardiola needs an environment in which to feel comfortable. Not to be flattered, but to feel that they are rowing in the same direction. He didn't have that with Sandro Rosell. We were forced to celebrate his titles first at Bayern and then at City. In Manchester, Ferran Soriano and Txiki Begiristain built him an ideal ecosystem. The latter left the ship, it was time to go home. Many of his trusted coaches were also no longer on thestaff.

After ten seasons, Guardiola says enough. He had accepted that this season could be his last, but he renewed for two (the second, optional) to avoid questions throughout the campaign. Enzo Maresca, who knows the club, has worked with Guardiola and managed the City reserves, will take over. Almost twenty titles in ten years in England, with a Champions League included. Well-deserved rest, Pep.