Pep Guardiola is undoubtedly one of the greatest managers of all time, someone who has transcended the game to new limits. He created the best ever team at Barcelona, then had a formidable spell at Bayern Munich, and finally made much history with Manchester City.
Fresh off winning the Champions League last season, the Spaniard has built the best team this season. They are performing great both in the Premier League and the Champions League. But while Pep has broken many records in his career, there is one that he still hasn’t.
Pep Guardiola falls short of ex-Man Utd. coaches in unbeaten record
Yesterday night, the Citizens won against Young Boys 3-0, which was their fourth straight win in the group stage. Along with last season’s run, his unbeaten run so far is 17 games. It is his personal best as a manager, with a former record of 16 games unbeaten from 2011 to 2012 during his time at Barcelona.
But he still has three more managers to reach if he is to become the manager with the most consecutive unbeaten matches in the European competition. Two of those managers are the legendary Sir Alex Ferguson and Louis Van Gaal, two former managers of rival club Manchester United. The other one is Ottmar Hitzfeld, a legendary German coach.
Sir Alex is on top, having been unbeaten for 25 games between 2007 and 2009 with Manchester United and having won the UCL in 2008. Van Gaal is second with 19 games unbeaten during his early days at Dutch club Ajax between 1994 to 1996, winning the trophy in 1995. Hitzfeld also went unbeaten in 19 games with Bayern Munich between 2001 to 2002.
If Pep Guardiola wins or draws his next two group stage games, he can equal the unbeaten record of Louis Van Gaal and Ottmar Hitzfeld. But he will need to stay unbeaten for 9 more games if he is to surpass Sir Alex’s record.
How many UCLs has Pep Guardiola won?
Pep Guardiola is often considered the greatest of coaches for the numerous trophies he has won in his career. And a measure of greatness for a manager is the number of Champions Leagues he has won. Pep has now won three of them, showing he is quite different from the rest.
He won his first one with Barcelona in 2009, where he won the historic sextuple. He would win the competition again in 2011 and already cement himself as a legend there. His team had Lionel Messi, Xavi, Andres Iniesta, and many other legends, creating a team that was unstoppable.
He would move on to Bayern Munich but never advance past the semi-finals. At Manchester City, he went many years without a UCL, which earned him much criticism. He did come close in 2021, but lost to Chelsea in the final. But last season, his City team finally beat Inter Milan in the final to win their maiden UCL title. It was Pep’s third overall, and he is looking to add one more.
His City team are still an unstoppable side, and can defend their UCL title. But for now, Pep Guardiola and his team’s focus turns to the league, as they have to face Chelsea away on Sunday.
