Pep's chicks. Five former wards of Guardiola, now working as coaches
Will any of the students be able to climb to the level of the teacher?
Josep Guardiola is one of the best football coaches of our time, which there is no doubt even among the avid critics of the Spaniard. On account of his two victories in the Champions League, three - in the club world championship, four titles in England and three triumphs in the championships of Germany and Spain. And all this Guardiola managed to achieve by the age of 51 - you must admit, for a mentor, the age is very small, although Pep himself has repeatedly stated his unwillingness to work to “deep gray hair”.
Despite the fact that Guardiola cannot be called an age coach, a whole mini-galaxy of young mentors has already appeared in world football, who had previously managed to play under Pep. Some of them work at the top level, others are just trying to move up to it. Will any of them succeed in surpassing the teacher? We will see in the future, but for now we offer the five most promising, from our point of view, young professionals from among the ex-wards of Guardiola ...
Rafael Marquez
Age: 43
Citizenship: Mexico
Team: Barcelona Athletic
As a football player, Rafael Marquez, who played as a central defender, spent seven years at Barcelona - from 2003 to 2010. During this time, the Mexican managed to play in 242 matches for the Blaugranas in all tournaments, but he played the vast majority of matches under the leadership of Frank Rijkaard (182). For Josep Guardiola, who replaced the Dutchman in the summer of 2008, Marquez was not a key performer, but he also entered the field quite often.
Marquez decided to leave Barcelona in the summer of 2010, when he received a lucrative offer from across the ocean from the New York Red Bulls. Subsequently, he returned to his homeland, where he played for Leon, but soon went back to Europe - to the Italian Verona, where he spent a year and a half. Rafael ended his career in his homeland in the ranks of his native Atlas. It happened in the summer of 2018, after which Marquez immediately became the sports director of this club.
As a functionary, the ex-center back of Barcelona managed to hold out for a short time. Just a year later, he resigned from his position, and for more than a year he actually remained out of work. Marquez managed to return to football only at the beginning of September 2020, when the Spanish Alcala called him to the position of coach of the youth team. Which is true, and Rafael did not stay there, already in March of the following year he received a "free".
In July of this year, Rafael Márquez took charge of Barcelona's youth team, Barcelona Athletic, often referred to as Barcelona B or Barcelona II. The Mexican specialist was offered a two-year contract, and so far he is showing himself very well - the Catalans are in the leading group in the third division of Spanish professional football. Rafael Márquez may have certain hopes for the future at Barcelona, as we must not forget that Josep Guardiola also worked at Barcelona Athletic before joining the Blaugranas first team coach.
Thierry Henry
Age: 45 years old
Citizenship: France
Team: Belgium national team (assistant)
Former Arsenal and France national team legend Thierry Henry ended up at Barcelona a year before Josep Guardiola took over. At that time, the Frenchman was already quite an old player, but it was his experience and goalscoring abilities that attracted the bosses of the Blaugranas, which resulted in a deal.
In total, Henry spent three seasons with Barcelona, playing in 121 matches and scoring 49 goals. Under Guardiola, the Frenchman also had good statistics, both in appearances (74) and in goals (30). Thierry played an important role in the famous treble that Barcelona managed to make at the end of the 2008/09 season, winning the national championship and the Cup, as well as the Champions League. But a year later, Henry, like Rafael Marquez, received a lucrative offer from the United States from the New York Red Bulls, which he did not want to refuse. As a result, Thierry also played 135 matches for the American team, scoring 52 goals, and in early 2015 he decided to retire as a player.
Soon, Henry called the London Arsenal, where the Frenchman worked as one of the coaches in the youth team for more than a year. Thierry was forced to leave this job by an offer from Roberto Martinez, who called the Frenchman to his coaching staff in the Belgian national team. This allowed Henry to declare himself, and two years later to take a new step forward in his career - to lead Monaco. Alas, things did not work out for Thierry there, and he was very soon dismissed. But he continued his independent work when he headed the Canadian "Montreal", where he managed to work out more - almost a year and a half.
At the end of August 2021, Thierry Henry returned to the coaching staff of Roberto Martinez in the Belgian national team. Now, which is quite understandable, he is satisfied with the role of the “second plan”, since the Frenchman has not yet been able to clearly show himself in independent work. However, what will happen next is unknown. Perhaps Henri will soon switch to the work of a functionary, since at the end of August he became one of the co-owners of the Italian Como.
Gabriel Milito
Age: 42
Citizenship: Argentina
Team: Argentinos Juniors
Argentinian Gabriel Milito, who played as a central defender, has never been a key figure for Josep Guardiola's Barcelona. He was signed in the summer of 2007 from Zaragoza for 20 million euros, and in his first year under Frank Rijkaard, the South American appeared regularly on the field, both in the championship and in Champions League matches. However, everything changed with the arrival of Guardiola, who preferred to rely on other performers.
As a result, out of 76 matches played for Barcelona, Milito played 42 in the first season under Rijkaard, and 34 in the next three, but already under Guardiola. In fairness, it is worth remembering that when Pep joined the team, Gabriel was in the infirmary due to a severe cruciate ligament injury, from which it took him about 18 months to recover ...
In August 2011, Milito, as a free agent, moved to his native Argentine Independiente, where 12 months later he announced the end of his playing career - only 31 years old ... After that, Gabriel worked for several years with the Independiente reserve teams, and in April 2015- he headed Estudiantes, where he led the team until the end of the calendar year. Subsequently, Milito worked as a mentor for Independiente, the Chilean O'Higgins, and again for Estudiantes, but he did not stay anywhere for a long time and did not achieve high-profile success.
Since January last year, Milito has been the coach of Argentinos Juniors. If the first season went to Gabriel and his wards “on the buildup”, then in the current one they look very worthy and at certain periods of time they even topped the standings. Therefore, Argentinos Juniors signed a contract with the coach until the end of next year and probably have serious hopes for the young mentor, unless, of course, he receives an invitation from Europe, where he has not yet been given the opportunity to work as a coach.
Vincent Kompany
Age: 36 years old
Citizenship: Belgium
Team: Burnley
In 2008, when Josep Guardiola came to Barcelona, the young center back of Hamburg Vincent Kompany moved to Manchester City for 8.5 million euros. At that time, the “citizens” had serious ambitions and a lot of money, but had not yet achieved the high-profile successes that Guardiola later accustomed them to.
A key figure on the field for Manchester City, Kompany was mainly before the arrival of Guardiola, but not because of the ideas of the Spanish coach, but because of very frequent health problems. It was the football player’s injuries that forced Pep to look for other options in the center of defense, and the coach turned to the Company’s services only when he was more or less confident in the Belgian’s good physical condition. In total, Vincent played 360 matches for the “citizens”, and only 62 of them under the leadership of Guardiola ...
In the summer of 2019, after eleven years at Manchester City, Kompany made the decision to return to his homeland. In Belgium, he spent a season at Anderlecht, after which he finally realized that health problems no longer allowed him to play at the maximum of his abilities and talent. It is noteworthy that he moved to Anderlecht Kompany in the status of a playing coach, and finally became the head coach of the team immediately after the announcement of his retirement as a player.
Kompany spent two years in the status of a full-fledged mentor of Anderlecht, and even though these were not the best times for the Brussels club, Vincent himself declared himself to be a fairly promising coach. This fact allowed Kompany to return to England this summer - he was called by Burnley, who play in the Championship. And so far, it should be noted, the young Belgian shows his coaching skills quite well, as his team is in the playoff zone for the right to enter the Premier League, where Kompany could already play against the team of his teacher - Manchester City ...
Xavi
Age: 42
Citizenship: Spain
Team: Barcelona
Even as a football player, Xavi was one of the best wards of Josep Guardiola at Barcelona. The brilliant midfielder managed to become a key figure for the Blaugranas long before Pep came to the coaching bridge, but even under him, Xavi remained the one on whom the result of each particular match seriously depended. Moreover, it was under Guardiola that the midfielder really flourished, because if in 224 matches under Rijkaard he had 23 goals and 45 assists, then under Pepe in 208 games he scored 36 goals and completed 82 assists for partners.
What is true, neither Guardiola nor the club management managed to persuade Xavi to stay at Barca until the last. In the summer of 2015, when the midfielder was already 35, he accepted an offer to move to Qatar - on a crazy salary, which Al-Sadd expressed his willingness to pay. As part of this team, Xavi played four seasons, and after the long-awaited victory of the champion title in 2019, he announced his retirement.
But Xavi did not want to leave Qatar, immediately becoming the head coach of Al-Sadd. The lack of coaching experience did not prevent Xavi from leading the team to victory in the 2020/21 Qatar Championship, after which, in November last year, the Spaniard nevertheless decided to return to his homeland. Barcelona had just fired Ronald Koeman and were eager to get Xavi to the post of coach. This was achieved when, on November 6, 2021, the specialist signed a 3-year cooperation agreement with Blaugranas. Alas for the fans of the Catalans, Xavi failed to transform Barça on the move, and the Catalans finished the 2021/22 season in second place - behind Real Madrid, but ahead of Atlético.
This season, Xavi with Barcelona is showing good results in the national championship, and he will probably want to rehabilitate himself for the team's failure in the last draw in the Champions League. By the way, in the European Cup, it is possible that Xavi will be able to cross paths with his former mentor Josep Guardiola at the playoff stage, with whom, by the way, they even managed to play shoulder to shoulder for Blaugranas in the late 90s of the last century, before than Pep went to Italy...