In the last two World Cups, the fruits of Pep Guardiola’s labour aided the eventual champions on each occasion with teams built from considerable chunks of the sides he was managing at the time going on to lift the trophy. In 2010, Spain claimed victory in South Africa with a Barcelona outfit that had won the Champions League against Manchester United the year before and had been back-to-back La Liga kings at its core.
Four years later, in Brazil, swathes of the German champions’ squad had played under the Catalan coach at Bayern Munich, where continental success may have evaded him, save for the 2013 UEFA Super Cup, but the Bundesliga title was guaranteed in every year of a three-term reign.
England fans will of course be hoping that this phenomenon, that sees the national team of the country Guardiola coaches in winning the tournament, will continue. Of the Three Lions’ 23-man squad, Kyle Walker, Fabian Delph, John Stones and Raheem Sterling make their way to Russia with a club that Pep Guardiola has often praised, Tottenham Hotspur, and cross-city rivals Manchester United providing significant parts of its make-up too.
To go back to Die Mannschaft and its fourth World Cup crown however, this memorably came at the expense of the leading architect of Guardiola’s managerial success at the Nou Camp: one Lionel Messi. When asked on whether or not he would like to see the Argentine go all the way for his country and perhaps cement his legacy as the greatest player of all time in the eyes of many, Guardiola was affirmative.
“I’d like to see Messi win the World Cup” the Manchester City chief began. “I want the national team [that wins] to have people that I like. Between English, German, Argentine and Spanish [players] I win this World Cup for sure” Guardiola joked.