Pep Guardiola has put an end to his legendary time as the manager of Barcelona.The man who passed through every level at the Catalan club has called it quits after giving the team its most iconic and glorious era in an emotional press conference. Barcelona’s team president, Sandro Rosell, announced that Guardiola’s managerial assistant, Francesc “Tito” Vilanova, will be the team’s manager for the following season.
Guardiola noted the following as his reasons for leaving the club:
“The main reason I have taken this decision is because four years is many years… I have given everything and I have nothing left and need to recharge my batteries. The demands have been great and I have not been able to rest much. I have to recover and the only way I can do that is by distancing myself. Otherwise, we would have ended up damaging each other.”
Guardiola was literally won everything he possibly could during his spells as a player and coach, including a stellar year in 2009 in which he won every title disputed that year and went home with 6 titles. As a manager, Barcelona won the league title in 2009, 2010 and 2011, Champions League and Club World Cup in 2009 and 2011 and the Copa del Rey in 2009. During his spell as the first team’s manager, which began in the summer of 2008 and will conclude at the end of the 2011-12 season, Guardiola won at least one competition per season for a total of 13 titles.
Although his side has been eliminated from the Champions League and is 7 points behind league leader Real Madrid with just 4 games left to the season, he will be fronting the blaugrana for a final time when they face Athletic Bilbao for the Copa Del Rey final.
