Pep Guardiola's record against his former clubs in the Champions League
Compared to the extremes of many in the world of football, Pep Guardiola isn't an overly superstitious individual.
There is the obligatory hug with trusted advisor Manuel Estiarte before every match, a statue of Johan Cruyff in his office and a specific seating pattern in the dressing room. Michael Scott would call him a little superstitious.
Yet, he may have cause to lean upon one widely-held belief he came across during his time in Italy. The 'curse of the ex' is a stigma that looms over a club hosting a former player or manager, wary of suffering the double blow of losing at the hands of a past employee.
Across a trophy-laden career at some of Europe's elite clubs, Guardiola has had the chance to test this illusion on a number of occasions on the continent's biggest stage: the Champions League. Here's how Guardiola has fared on his various returns.
Guardiola's record against Barcelona
Guardiola's ties to Barcelona, as a club and a city, are indelibly ingrained into the very fibre of his being. Growing up a fan, graduating from ball boy to academy player and then first-team captain, Guardiola coached the B team and, most successfully, the senior side to unparalleled success.
Three years after an emotional departure, Guardiola returned to Camp Nou with his Bayern Munich side. It was not a pleasant visit. In one of the original examples of Guardiola's much-debated 'overthinking', an injury-riddled Bayern pivoted to a completely different approach, going man-for-man at the back against Barcelona's front-three of Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez and Neymar.
The Catalans romped to a 3-0 win in the first leg of the 2015 Champions League semi-final. Guardiola's Bayern won the return fixture 3-2, falling to an aggregate defeat. It was the second of three successive Champions League exits in the semi-finals for Guardiola at Bayern after winning the trophy in two of his first three seasons of senior management.
Guardiola was back in Catalonia in 2016 but in charge of a new team. It went even worse. Leaving Sergio Aguero on the bench for the group-stage encounter, Messi plundered a hat-trick as Manchester City fell to a 4-0 thumping. Claudio Bravo was also making his return to Barcelona but City's keeper was in the changing rooms within an hour after receiving a second-half red card.
In the return fixture at the Etihad, Messi again opened the scoring as Barcelona flew out of the traps. Yet, City managed to weather the storm to earn a famous 3-1 victory - the club's first-ever triumph against Barcelona and Guardiola's first meaningful win against a past employer.
Guardiola's record against Bayern Munich
Guardiola's first meeting against Bayern Munich since his three years in Bavaria will be in the 2022/23 Champions League quarter-finals.
The Catalan did come up against Die Roten during his debut season at the helm of Barcelona's first team. Club president Joan Laporta described the opening 45 minutes of Barcelona's quarter-final first leg against Bayern in 2009 as 'the best first half in the club's history'. Messi scored on either side of a Samuel Eto'o strike before Thierry Henry made it 4-0 after 43 minutes.
A thumping drive from Seydou Keita cancelled out Franck Ribery's opener in the second leg but the tie had been decided in that destructive first half at Camp Nou.
While Barcelona's failure to prevail in Munich was inconsequential that season, it does mean that Guardiola is yet to win a Champions League away from home against a club he has previously managed; drawing one and losing two while conceding eight goals in three games.
Guardiola's record against clubs from his playing career
Naturally, the vast majority of Guardiola's playing career was spent at Barcelona. However, during the twilight of his days on the pitch, Guardiola embarked upon a world tour, picking the brains of the best coaches he could play under to prepare for his own excursion into the managerial sphere.
Guardiola has not had the chance to go up against Brescia, Al-Ahli or Dorados de Sinaloa since he swapped his studs for a suit. But in 2014, Bayern Munich were drawn against Roma in the Champions League group stage.
As an immobile 31-year-old, Guardiola only made five appearances for Fabio Capello's Giallorossi before returning to Brescia. There was certainly no question of loyalties when he led Bayern to a 7-1 rout in the eternal city. Bayern's technical director at the time, Michael Reschke, remembers accompanying Guardiola on a scouting trip for the Italian team. “It was crazy," he remembered. "Pep spoke of each team’s strengths and weaknesses before kick-off and the match went exactly the way he had predicted."
With such an intricate knowledge of the opposition, Bayern coasted to a 2-0 win in Germany for the return fixture.
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