When Pep Guardiola arrived at Manchester City in the summer of 2016, English football was about to be changed forever.
The Catalan had already completed Spanish football with Barcelona, winning two Champions Leagues, three La Liga titles and the first ever treble in Spanish football history.
He had dominated Germany with Bayern Munich, where he claimed three consecutive Bundesliga titles.
But it was in England where he built perhaps his greatest legacy of all.
Over a decade at the Etihad Stadium, Guardiola won 20 trophies, including six Premier League titles, one Champions League, three FA Cups and five League Cups.
The 2022/23 season stands apart from everything else – a historic treble that made City only the second English club ever to win the Champions League, Premier League and FA Cup in the same season.
He transformed a club that had spent most of its history in the shadows of its city rivals into one of the most feared and admired sides the game has ever seen.
|
Trophy |
Times Won |
|---|---|
|
Premier League |
6 |
|
League Cup |
5 |
|
FA Cup |
3 |
|
Community Shield |
3 |
|
Champions League |
1 |
|
UEFA Super Cup |
1 |
|
Club World Cup |
1 |
|
Total |
20 |
And his influence on English football extended far beyond trophies.
The way the Premier League is played, the tactical demands placed on players, the very standards expected of a title contender – all of it shifted during Guardiola’s time in England. Managers across the country adapted, or got left behind.
So when Pep talks, football listens. He has worked both with and against some of the greatest managers and players in the history of the sport. He has seen and conquered everything the game has to offer. His opinion matters more than most.
Pep Guardiola named Paul Scholes as his ‘favourite’ English midfielder
Speaking to Rio Ferdinand on the former Manchester United defender’s podcast, Guardiola was asked the age old question – Paul Scholes, Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard.
And his answer was unequivocal.
“All respect to Frank, to Steven, but Paul Scholes is my favourite one.
“I love it. I think he had everything but the other two, come on, Frank and Steven Gerrard changed this… Paul Scholes is my favourite.”
Scholes is one of the greatest midfielders the Premier League has ever seen, and it almost beggars belief that the trio he formed with Gerrard and Lampard was never able to bring success to England on the international stage.
The Three Lions had three of the finest midfielders on the planet available to them at the same time – and somehow never made them work.
They were shoehorned into formations that served none of them properly, with Scholes often the odd man out or Gerrard shoved out wide.
Gerrard himself has been candid about why. Speaking on Ferdinand’s podcast, he said bluntly: “We were all egotistical losers. We weren’t friendly or connected. We weren’t a team. We never at any stage became a real good, strong team.”
It remains one of English football’s great regrets. Three world-class midfielders – and Guardiola’s favourite of all time among them – and a nation never got to see what they might have achieved together.
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