Head Coach

Did he leave his legacy? 5 coaches who were led by Pep Guardiola

By Alexis Almosnino

Pep Guardiola is, without a doubt, one of the best coaches in history, and the legacy he left for his players is enormous. Today, many of them try to imitate it.

Pep Guardiola is, without a doubt, one of the best coaches in history, and the legacy he left for his players is enormous. Today, many of them try to imitate it.

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Pep Guardiola is one of the most acclaimed and imitated coaches in world football in the last decade. The Spaniard has a recognizable football style that draws on the philosophy of Johan Cruyff and that is how he has tried to transmit it to his pupils. So much so that some players he coached and who are now starting their careers on the bench also bear the Guardiola stamp and his idea of the game is directly influenced by the City manager. Let's look at some cases.

- Xavi Hernández: 

If Pep Guardiola was Joan Cruyff's outstanding student, Xavi was Pep's own. The one from Terrasa has just started his career as a coach, in 2018 he took over Al Sadd and has recently made the leap to the Barça bench. In this short time he has made it very clear what his idea of football is: playing with extremes and pressure after loss.

- Víctor Váldez

Víctor Valdés, 100% Barça DNA. The goalkeeper had a brilliant career under the sticks of FC Barcelona and after hanging up his gloves in 2017, he began his career as a coach a year later and in 2019 he took charge of Juvenil A of Barça although he ended up being dismissed. After Joan Laporta's victory in the elections, he returned as a goalkeeper coach at La Masía.

- Vincent Kompany

Pep Guardiola landed at Manchester City in 2016 and had Komany at his command for three seasons, long enough for the manager's concepts and philosophy to catch on. After leaving City in 2019, he went to Anderlecht where he began playing the role of player-coach until the arrival of Vercauteren. Upon his retirement as a footballer, he focused solely on the benches.

- Thierry Henry 

Thierry Henry left his mark wherever he played and his three seasons at Barcelona with Guardiola on the bench were not going to be an exception. His first experience on the bench as second coach of the Belgium team and we were able to see him at the 2018 World Cup alongside Roberto Martínez. Then he took over Monaco and Montreal. Will we ever see him coaching Arsenal?

- Xabi Alonso 

Xabi Alonso had great teachers and they couldn't be more different. At Real Madrid he was under the orders of Mourinho and Carlo Ancelotti and at Bayern Munich with Pep Guardiola, among many others. It is still too early to judge him as a coach since he has started from the lower categories and currently directs the Real Sociedad affiliate in the Second Division. In a few years we will see which of the three it looks the most like.


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