Pep Guardiola is at the point in a career when he is nearer the end than the beginning, when a milestone can make him feeling nostalgic, where the reminders of his longevity are an indication of how much has achieved. Sunday will bring his 1,000th game in management. There will not be another 1,000. “Don’t ask me,” he grimaced. “It’s too much.” And not merely because Guardiola’s initial response to the figure was simply to say: “2,000 press conferences”.
When Guardiola talked of “insane numbers”, that was not actually what he had in mind. The Catalan did not know his exact win percentage – a mere 71.57 – but knew enough to realise that, on average, of every 10 games, he would win seven, draw one or two and lose one or two. He talked of his fortune in managing “extraordinary clubs”. One of the extraordinary elements, though, is that he has won at least 70 percent of his matches with each of Barcelona, Bayern Munich and Manchester City.
He has 12 league titles, three Champions Leagues, an assortment of different trebles. It has led to suggestions he is the greatest ever. “Completely right,” said Guardiola, who can greet such praise with sarcastic, faux boasting. But the extended answer showed an acceptance that he has a place in the pantheon.
“Every era, the influence of many managers has been through the history, I can say I have been part of that because the numbers explain and I have had success and I think it has been nice to watch our teams so I am there,” he said. There is a perfectionism to Guardiola, a tendency to analyse everything which leads to the familiar accusations he has overthought things. And yet there is also an acceptance that can come with experience.
“My mum and dad give me the competitiveness but not, ‘I want to kill for this’,” he said. “I am fine with myself in defeats. I am fine with accepting I am not good. I learn to handle it better, the good moments and especially the bad moments. Before it was (downbeat), now it is ‘tomorrow the sun rises again, learn and talk to the other ones’.”
Guardiola was a revolutionary, taking possession to another level. His tactics have altered since, playing with false nines and specialist centre-forwards, but he believes he has always been true to himself. “I didn’t betray my feelings for one second,” he added. “I changed many things but the fundamentals inside my heart I didn’t betray once. Taking bad decisions or playing bad decisions does not mean I did something I could not believe in. Never, never.”
It is a coincidence of the fixture list but Guardiola has the most appropriate opponents for his landmark day. “If I had to choose one rival for this personal milestone, that would be the best,” he said. “Because I’ve been longer in this country than ever. Barcelona, the impact in my life as a ballboy, football player and manager was obvious and Bayern were an incredible step as well but Liverpool, especially with Jurgen (Klopp), have been the biggest rival in this country. It could not be better, to be honest. The universe decide that.”
The paradox is that the man who has won so much cherishes a rivalry in which he has a losing record. Guardiola has only won seven of 24 games against Liverpool. In itself, it is the consequence of a remarkable duel with Jurgen Klopp, which began in Germany. No one else who has faced Guardiola at least four times has won more than they lost. Klopp went head-to-head with the City manager 30 times. And while Arne Slot won both meetings last season, Guardiola cited the German by name far more often than his counterpart this weekend.
He stopped short of saying he changed the game, but he argued he and Klopp had turned this into the biggest game in English football now. “Maybe we help to create this rivalry for the last decade, before it was (Manchester) United-Liverpool or Arsenal,” he explained. “Here we have our rivalry with United but what happened in the Jurgen period, of course, was the biggest, we split the Premier Leagues between us. I enjoy a lot this healthy rivalry that both clubs had. I always had the feelings of how much we respected each other, in terms of Jurgen’s side and Pep’s side. Jurgen gave me a lot and I miss him.”
Now Klopp is part of Guardiola’s past. Sir Alex Ferguson, too, and Guardiola concurred when it was suggested the 2011 Champions League final against Ferguson’s United might be his greatest game. Ferguson’s theory that the secret to success was good players. “I completely agree,” said Guardiola. “And after that, it is a lot of hard work: dedication, passion, love. In that, nobody beat me.”