Pep Guardiola thinks too much about the Champions League Final

DBasia.news – Manchester City lost 0-1 to Chelsea in the Champions League final which was held at the Estadio Do Dragao, Sunday (30/05) am, WIB from Kai Havertz’s single goal. After the match, the media was in line when highlighting Pep Guardiola.

BBC, Standard Sports, Goal, Sky Sports all thought that Guardiola thinks too much about the Champions League title that always haunts him. Guardiola has never won it.

Guardiola has won two Champions League titles as a coach at Barcelona. First in 2008-2009 by beating Sir Alex Ferguson’s Manchester United with a score of 2-0, then in 2010-2011 against the same team with a score of 3-1.

Since his period as Barcelona coach, then coaching Bayern Munich, and now with Man City he always presents trophies on the domestic scene. It was all achieved by the philosophy he’s known for: offensive and entertaining football.

The problem is that after winning it twice with Barcelona, Guardiola has never won it again. His best achievement with Bayern was only reaching the semifinals and with City this season was reaching the final.

No doubt many theories have emerged from the public regarding the difficulty of winning the Champions League title, even though he was always spoiled with player transfers at the clubs he coached. There are those who think that Guardiola needs Lionel Messi, as it is associated with the curse of Africa.

“(Guardiola) turned all of Africa against himself, a lot of African fans turned their backs on Manchester City,” Yaya Toure’s agent Dimitri Seluk said of Guardiola freezing Toure from the City squad.

“And I’m sure many African shamans in the future will not allow Guardiola to win the Champions League. It will be a curse for Guardiola from Africa. Life will show if I am right or not.”

“The fact that Guardiola ended Yaya’s career at Manchester City was not a mistake, but a crime. But the boomerang is coming back, Pep. You will still see what an African shaman looks like. Always remember this.”

In addition to the curse and need Messi’s help, Guardiola in fact always burdens himself with thoughts. This season’s failure evokes nostalgia for his comments on 2020.

“We, of course, will not only be judged by the way we play but the titles we win. That’s the truth. It’s that simple,” Guardiola said in 2020.

“Last year was an amazing year for us but people said, ‘But you didn’t win the Champions League’.

That’s why I will be judged, if we don’t win it in my last period here I will fail here. I know that.”

Let’s observe Guardiola’s record in the Champions League with the teams he has managed:

1. Barcelona

2008-2009: champion (2-2 win over Man United)

2009-2010: semifinals (lost 2-3 on aggregate to Inter Milan)

2010-2011: champion (3-1 win over Man United)

2011-2012: semi-finals (2-3 on aggregate to Chelsea)

2. Bayern Munich

2013-2014: semifinals (lost 0-5 on aggregate to Real Madrid)

2014-2015: semifinals (lost 3-5 on aggregate to Barcelona)

2015-2016: semifinals (lost to away goals aggressiveness 2-2)

3. Manchester City

2016-2017: top 16 (lost 6-6 away goals aggressiveness to Monaco)

2017-2018: quarter-finals (lost 1-5 on aggregate to Liverpool)

2018-2019: quarter-finals (4-4 away goal aggressive loss to Tottenham Hotspur)

2019-2020: quarter-finals (3-1 aggregate loss to Olympique Lyonnais)

2020-2021: final (0-1 loss to Chelsea)